Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Once a land of farmers tilling its famously fertile soils, Ukraine emerged from the Soviet era with the huge (and decaying) Donbas heavy-industrial complex in its east as well as with a substantial (18 percent) Russian minority population. . . . The vital Dnieper River forms a valuable geographic reference for comprehending Ukraine’s division that creates the transition zone. To its west lies agrarian, rural, mainly Roman Catholic Ukraine; in the Dnieper’s great southern bend and eastward lies industrial, urban, Russified (and Russian Orthodox) Ukraine. For the most part, Ukraine’s electorate is divided between a pro-Western (and pro-EU) north and west and a pro-Russian south and east Violent protests broke out in Kiev (Kyyiv), the Ukrainian capital, in February 2014 over major political disagreements concerning relations with Russia and possible membership in the European Union. Pro-Russian groups inside Ukraine raised their profile by protesting against EU membership. The Crimea was swiftly annexed by Russia in March 2014 amidst vociferous objections from the Kiev government and most of the international community." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 191]