Ukraine Geography - 2024

Location

Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east

Geographic coordinates

49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references

AsiaEurope

Area

total: 603,550 sq km

land: 579,330 sq km

water: 24,220 sq km

note: Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, an area of approximately 27,000 sq km (10,400 sq miles)

Area - comparative

almost four times the size of Georgia; slightly smaller than Texas

almost four times the size of Georgia; slightly smaller than Texas:

Land boundaries

total: 5,581 km

border countries (6): Belarus 1,111 km; Hungary 128 km; Moldova 1,202 km; Poland 498 km; Romania 601 km; Russia 1,944 km, Slovakia 97 km

Coastline

2,782 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

continental shelf: 200 m or to the depth of exploitation

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; warm summers across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain

mostly fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, with mountains found only in the west (the Carpathians) or in the extreme south of the Crimean Peninsula

Elevation

highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

lowest point: Black Sea 0 m

mean elevation: 175 m

Natural resources

iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land

Land use

agricultural land: 71.2% (2018 est.)

arable land: 56.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 13.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 16.8% (2018 est.)

other: 12% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

4,350 sq km (2020)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Dunay (Danube) (shared with Germany [s], Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania [m]) - 2,888 km; Dnipro (Dnieper) river mouth (shared with Russia [s] and Belarus) - 2,287 km; Dnister (Dniester) river source and mouth (shared with Moldova) - 1,411 km; Vistula (shared with Poland [s/m] and Belarus) - 1,213 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: (Black Sea) Danube (795,656 sq km), Don (458,694 sq km), Dnieper (533,966 sq km)

Population distribution

densest settlement in the eastern (Donbas) and western regions; noteable concentrations in and around major urban areas of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donets'k, Dnipropetrovs'k, and Odesa

Natural hazards

occasional floods; occasional droughts

Geography - note

strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe after Russia