Part 853

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Wing

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 4,466,851 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males: 2,423,556 (1997 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $56 million (FY93/94)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.7% (FY93/94)

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: none ______________________________________________________________________

UKRAINE

@Ukraine:Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia

Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area: total: 603,700 sq km land: 603,700 sq km water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total: 4,558 km border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km

Coastline: 2,782 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea : 12 nm

Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Black Sea 0 m highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber

Land use: arable land: 58% permanent crops: 2% permanent pastures : 13% forests and woodland: 18% other: 9% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 26,050 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Geography - note: strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe

@Ukraine:People