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Ukraine

Surprisingly Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, larger even than France. So there is much to explore! Its main river the Dneiper divides the country physically and perhaps politically and culturally. The Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic ceded from the collapsing USSR 1991 to become an independent country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that were once under the yoke of Russia.

To the East are the main industrial centres, the most important being in the Donbas, centred on the big coal mining city of Donetsk. Here is the economic power house and the home of a political block that splits the country. Culturally this region is strongly linked to Russia, most people speaking Russian. The previous president Leonid Kuchma had his power base here as does the main opposition leader today Viktor Yanukovych. The country's two most famous oligarchs are from the region. Viktor Pinchuk, of Jewish background, built his huge wealth from steel.

Renat Akhmetov, born to a poor Muslim Tatar coal mining family, trained as an economist, is now worth almost $4 billion. Both men are active politically and it seems Akhmetov may seek to replace Yanukovych, a man with a less than respectable past, as the leader of the Party of Regions.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the formidably intelligent, Western leaning Prime Minister gains perhaps more credence as the country's new leader because of her Donbass origins. With Viktor Yushchenko she provided charismatic leadership in the Orange Revolution that has set the country on a new path.

Yushchenko an ex central banker and Ukrainian Orthodox Christian is passionate about Ukrainian culture. A protégé of Leonid Kuchma he has done most to wrest unity from the chaos of the past divisions.

To the West Ukrainian is the predominant language and culturally people seem to lean more to Europe. In the South both Odessa and Crimea are strongly linked to Russia.

What is fascinating about this country is that its ancient Kievan Rus history provides the bedrock for a culture that is perhaps far from being insignificantly on the 'edge' of Russia - the meaning of ukraine - it almost feels as though the re-emergent national identity will be a counterweight to the Russian neighbours. The struggle to create a democracy continues and perhaps the recent developments make Ukraine's political future much more closely allied to Europe than Russia.