Geography and Climate

Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe bordering Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova; Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia are neighbors through maritime borders. Ukraine’s territory is 603,700 sq km (233,090 sq miles) and it is the largest country in Europe after the European part of Russia.

The landscape consists mainly of fertile black soil steppes and plateaus. The two mountain ranges are the Carpathians in the West (popular for skiing in the winter) and the Crimean Mountains in the south of the peninsula. Ukraine has access to two seas: the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and numerous rivers including Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Buh.

The climate is mostly temperate continental with temperatures similar to those in American Southern Midwest. The weather on southern Crimean Coast is warmer with Mediterranean climate along the Black Sea. Precipitation is highest in the west and north and lowest in southeast. Average winter temperature is from -8° to -12° C (from +17.6° F to +3° F), and 0° C (+32° F) in Southern regions. Average summer temperature is from +18° to +25° C (from +64.4° F to +77° F), with maximums reaching +35° C (+95° F) in the south.   

Carpathian Mountains	Ukrainian Steppe
Black Sea	Western Ukraine