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Ukraine was not an independent state during the WWI. The territory that made up the modern country of Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire. The southwestern region of Ukraine was administered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Therefore, Ukrainians entered WWI on the side of both the Central Powers, under Austria-Hungary and the Allied Powers, under Russia.

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The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Ukraine), was set up in 1922 after the defeat of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the Soviet–Ukrainian War during the Russian Civil War. It ended in 1991 in the end of the Cold War.

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Holodomor was also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. Some Ukrainians believe that the famine was planned by Joseph Stalin to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement.

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The Second World War deepened the schism between Ukraine and Soviet Russia. When Nazi Germany took over Ukraine, many Western Ukrainians fought alongside the Nazi during the Second World War against their common enemies –the Russians. In 1943-44, Soviet Russia retook Ukraine and carried out mass deportations of Ukrainians.

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Ukraine was one of the founding members of the United Nations when it joined in 1945 as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

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In 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave Ukraine a gift: Crimea. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was Russian but felt an affinity with Ukraine. His decision to give Crimea to Ukraine is having consequences today.

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The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture.

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What Caused the Catastrophic Nuclear Accident in Chernobyl?

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1991

Ukraine declared independence. Kravchuk elected president

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Followed a disputed presidential election purportedly won by a pro-Russian candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians poured into the streets of Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv to reject the result of presidential election. The protesters claimed the election was marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud.

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The Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Maidan Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when a series of violent events involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych and the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. During the unrest, Russia invaded Crimea and Pro-Russian rebels occupy Donbas region of Ukraine.

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Thousands of people in Ukraine turned out on Sunday to mark the date on which, eight years ago, over 100 people were killed during mass protests that ousted the country's Russia-friendly president

The people, known as 'The Heavenly Hundred' are commemorated each year on February 20, to mark the day in 2014 when riot police opened fire on protesters.

Ukrainians, including former President Pietro Poroshenko, laid wreaths at a memorial in Kyiv's Maidan Square.

The clashes which started on February 18 ended in the fall of the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych. "People who died here are our heroes and we have to remember them," one local resident said.

"We need to remember that people gave their lives for Ukraine and for our European future," said Pietro, a painter who was displaced from the Donetsk region and is now living in Kyiv.

Thousands of people in Ukraine's port city of Odessa also marched through the streets in a show of unity on Sunday, marking the date.

Waving national flags and placards with slogans such as, "Odesa is Ukraine" and 'No Putin, No Cry', people said they had come to demonstrate against a potential Russian invasion, and said that they were prepared to fight for their city.

"We want to show that citizens of Odessa as well as all of Ukrainians will support our sovereignty and will fight occupants wherever and whenever," said student, Oleksey Voronko.

The unrest began in November 2013 following the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend preparations for an association treaty with the European Union and to seek closer economic relations with Russia.

After the fall of the Yanukovych government, Russia annexed Crimea and and supported rebels in Ukraine's east in a conflict that has killed over 14,000 people since 2014.

The commemorations come as tensions mount in the region, with Western leaders warning that Russia was poised to attack its neighbour, which is now surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment.

Sunday was also the date Russia's military exercises were scheduled to finish, with a promised pullback of Russian troops from Ukraine's borders.

However Belarus' defence ministry announced that Russian troops would remain in Belarus indefinitely due to the "escalation of the situation" in the Donbas region.

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Ukrainians mark eighth anniversary of Maidan revolutionary protests

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Thousands of people in Ukraine turned out on Sunday to mark the date on which, eight years ago, over 100 people were killed during mass protests that ousted the country's Russia-friendly president The people, known as 'The Heavenly Hundred' are commemorated each year on February 20, to mark the day in 2014 when riot police opened fire on protesters.

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On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of its neighbours to the southwest. It marked a major escalation between the countries, which had been in a state of conflict since 2014.

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A brief history of modern Ukraine - BBC News