Government & politics — Ukraine

name derives from the Old East Slavic word "ukraina" meaning "borderland or march (militarized border region)" and began to be used extensively in the 19th century; originally Ukrainians referred to themselves as Rusyny (Rusyns, Ruthenians, or Ruthenes), an endonym derived from the medieval Rus state (Kyivan Rus)

• 24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
• notable earlier dates: ca. 982 (VOLODYMYR I consolidates Kyivan Rus)
• 1199 (Principality (later Kingdom) of Ruthenia formed)
• 1648 (establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate)
• 22 January 1918 (from Soviet Russia)

Independence Day, 24 August (1991); note - 22 January 1918, the day Ukraine first declared its independence from Soviet Russia, and the date the short-lived Western and Greater (Eastern) Ukrainian republics united (1919), is now celebrated as Unity Day

• history: several previous;
• latest adopted and ratified 28 June 1996 amendments: proposed by the president of Ukraine or by at least one third of the Supreme Council members; adoption requires simple majority vote by the Council and at least two-thirds majority vote in its next regular session; adoption of proposals relating to general constitutional principles, elections, and amendment procedures requires two-thirds majority vote by the Council and approval in a referendum; constitutional articles on personal rights and freedoms, national independence, and territorial integrity cannot be amended; amended several times, last in 2019

• chief of state: Preside
• Prime Minister Yulia SVYRYDENKO (since 17 July 2025) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers nominated by the prime minister,
• approved by the Verkhovna Rada election/appointment process: president directly elected by absolute-majority popular vote in 2 rounds, if needed, for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); prime mini
• ster selected by the Verkhovna Rada most recent election date: 31
• March and 21 April 2019 election results: 2019: Volodymyr ZELENSKYY elected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Volodymyr ZELENSKYY (Servant of the People) 30.2%, Petro POROSHENKO (BPP-Solidarity) 15.6%, Yuliya TYMOSHENKO (Fatherland) 13.4%, Yuriy BOYKO (Opposition Platform-For Life) 11.7%, 35 other candidates 29.1%; percent of vote in the second round - Volodymyr ZELENSKYY 73.2%, Petro POROSHENKO 24.5%, other 2.3%; Denys SHMYHAL (independent) elected prime minister;
• Verkhovna Rada vote - 291-59 2014: Petro POROSHENKO elected president in first round; percent of vote - Petro POROSHENKO (independent) 54.5%, Yuliya TYMOSHENKO (Fatherland) 12.9%, Oleh LYASHKO (Radical Party) 8.4%, other 24.2%; Volodymyr HROYSMAN (BPP) elected prime minister;
• Verkhovna Rada vote - 257-50 expected date of next election: scheduled for March/April 2024, but not held becaus
• e Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022 note: a National Security and Defense Council or NSDC was created in 1992 and tasked with developing national security policy on domestic and international matters and advising the president; a presidential administration helps draft presidential edicts and provides policy support to the president

Description

unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450 seats; 225 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 225 directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by closed, party-list proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)

Elections

last held on 21 July 2019 (next to be held on 29 October 2023)

Election Results

• percent of vote by party - Servant of the People 43.2%, Opposition Platform-For Life 13.1%, Batkivshchyna 8.2%, European Solidarity 8.1%, Voice 5.8%, other 21.6%
• Servant of the People 254, Opposition Platform for Life 43, Batkivshchyna 26, European Solidarity 25, Voice 20, Opposition Bloc 6, Svoboda 1, Self Reliance 1, United Centre 1, Bila Tserkva Together 1, independent 46;

Note

• voting not held in Crimea and parts of two Russian-occupied eastern oblasts leaving 26 seats vacant
• although this brings the total to 424 elected members (of 450 potential), article 83 of the constitution mandates that a parliamentary majority consists of 226 seats

Note

Legislative and presidential elections cannot be held under martial law.;the Verkhovna Rada declared martial law in February 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion

• highest court(s): Supreme Court of Ukraine or SCU (consists of 100 judges, organized into civil, criminal, commercial and administrative chambers, and a grand chamber); Constitutional Court (consists of 18 justices); High Anti-Corruption Court (consists of 39 judges, including 12
• in the Appeals Chamber) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges recommended by the High Qualification Commission of Judges (a 16-member state body responsible for judicial candidate testing and assessment and judicial administration), submitted to the High Council of Justice, a 21-member independent body of judicial officials responsible for judicial self-governance and administration, and appointed by the president; judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 65; High Anti-Corruption Court judges are selected by the same process as Supreme Court justices, with one addition – a majority of a combined High Qualification Commission of Judges and a 6-member Public Council of International Experts must vote in favor of potential judges in order to recommend their nomination to the High Council of Justice; this majority must include at least 3 members of the Public Council of International Experts; Constitutional Court justices appointed - 6 each by the president, by the Congress of Judges, and by the Verkhovna Rada;
• judges serve 9-year nonrenewable terms subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal;
• district courts note: specialized courts were abolished as part of Ukraine's judicial reform program; in November 2019, President ZELENSKYY signed a bill on legal reforms

Summary

24 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic* (avtonomna respublika), and 2 municipalities** (mista, singular - misto) with oblast status; Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Crimea or Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol), Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipro), Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad (Kropyvnytskyi), Kyiv, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sevastopol, Sumy, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn (Lutsk), Zakarpattia (Uzhhorod), Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr note 1: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); plans include the eventual renaming of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad oblasts, but because these names are mentioned in the Constitution of Ukraine, the change will require a constitutional amendment note 2: the US Government does not recognize Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the municipality of Sevastopol, nor their redesignation as the "Republic of Crimea" and the "Federal City

Regions or States

• of Sevastopol"
• neither does the US Government recognize Russia's claimed annexation of Donetsk
• Kherson
• Luhansk
• and Zaporizhzhia oblasts

• Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO]
• European Solidarity or YeS [Petro POROSHENKO]
• Holos (Voice or Vote) [Kira RUDYK]
• Opposition Bloc [Evgeny MURAYEV] (formerly known as Opposition Bloc — Party for Peace and Development, successor of the Industrial Party of Ukraine, and resulted from a schism in the original Opposition Bloc in 2019
• banned in court June 2022
• ceased to exist in July 2022)
• Opposition Bloc or OB (divided into Opposition Bloc - Party for Peace and Development and Opposition Platform - For Life in 2019
• ceased to exist in July 2022)
• Opposition Platform - For Life [Yuriy BOYKO] (resulted from a schism in the original Opposition Bloc in 2019
• activities suspended by the National Security and Defense Council in March 2022
• dissolved in April 2022)
• Platform for Life and Peace [Yuriy BOYKO]
• Radical Party or RPOL [Oleh LYASHKO]
• Samopomich (Self Reliance) [Oksana Ivanivna SYROYID]
• Servant of the People [Olena Oleksiivna SHULIAK]
• Svoboda (Freedom) [Oleh TYAHNYBOK]

• no citizenship by descent only: at least one pa
• no residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years

Australia Group, BSEC, CBSS (observer), CD, CE, CEI, CICA (observer), CIS (participating member, has not signed the 1993 CIS charter), EAEC (observer), EAPC, EBRD, FAO, GCTU, GUAM, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAIA (observer), MIGA, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SELEC (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNOOSA, UNWTO, UPU, Wassenaar Arrangement, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC note: Ukraine is an EU candidate country whose satisfactory completion of accession criteria is required before being granted full EU membership

chief of mission

Ambassador Bridget A. BRINK (since 2 June 2022) embassy: 4 A. I. Igor Sikorsky Street, 04112 Kyiv mailing address: 5850 Kyiv Place, Washington, DC 20521-5850

telephone

[380] (44) 521-5000

FAX

[380] (44) 521-5544

Email address and website

• kyivacs@state.gov
• https://ua.usembassy.gov/

chief of mission

Ambassador Oksana MARKAROVA (since 7 July 2021)

chancery

3350 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

telephone

[1] (202) 349-2963

FAX

[1] (202) 333-0817

Email address and website

• emb_us@mfa.gov.ua
• https://usa.mfa.gov.ua/en

consulate(s) general

Chicago, New York, San Francisco