Area of 603,550 sq km.  Ukraine covers the largest area of all countries within Europe

Bordering countries are Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia.

Largest cities – Kyiv (Київ - Kiev, the capital, population 2.85 million), Kharkiv (1.47 million), Dnipropetrovsk (1.07 million), Odessa (1.03 million), Donetsk (1.02 million)

Main rivers: The Dnieper is the country's longest river. The deepest river is the Danube.

Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaux, with mountains in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the furthest south.

Mountains: The principal mountain system is the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, part of the Eastern Carpathians.  The highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061m is near the Romanian border.

Natural resources
*  fertile arable land forms 53.85% of the country's area.
*  natural gas, oil, arable land, timber, rich variety of minerals

*  Ukraine contains approximately 5% of the world's total mineral resources. There are deposits of more than 80 types of minerals. The Donetsk Basin contains huge reserves of high-quality coal and the nearby iron-ore deposits of Kryvy Rih are equally rich. Other mineral resources found in Ukraine include magnesium, mercury, titanium, chromium, nickel, bauxite, uranium, phosphate, sulphur, salt, graphite, kaolin and peat.

Environment
Issues are the inadequate supplies of drinkable water, air and water pollution; there is also concern about deforestation; and the serious aftermath of radiation contamination in the north-east from the 1986 melt-down of the Chernobyl (Чорнобиль) nuclear power plant.