The Heart of Europe. Interesting Facts about Ukraine

Then in your own house you will see
True justice, strength, and liberty!
There is no other such Ukraine,
No other Dnieper on the plain.

Taras Shevchenko

1. The Ukrainian language is one of the most beautiful languages in the world

Ukrainian language is incredible beautiful to listen to. In linguistic contest held in Paris in 1934 the Ukrainian language was recognised as the second most melodic language in the world after Italian and the third most beautiful in phonetics, vocabulary, phraseology, and sentence structure after French and Persian. Among Ukrainian-speaking people Ukrainian is called 'the nightingale's language'. Gentle and colourful, it is very romantic:

Так ніхто не кохав. Через тисячі літ
лиш приходить подібне кохання.
В день такий розцвітає весна на землі
І земля убирається зрання…

(Volodymyr Sosyura)

2. Ukrainian women are rated as word's most beautiful

Women from Ukraine are recognizable throughout the entire world. Ani Lorak and Tina Karol, one of the most popular Ukrainian singers; Anna Bessonova, Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast; Milla Yovovich, American super model and actress, born in Ukraine; Olga Sumska, a famous Ukrainian actress... A lot of men are losing their heads as soon as they hear the voices and see the beauty of women from Ukraine. Some of them suppose that Ukrainian women are not only the most beautiful ones, but also they are the best possible wives that a person can ever find. Ukrainian women are sure how to steal men's hearts.  

3. Ukrainians are the fifth most-drinking nation in the world 

Only Moldavians, Russians, Hungarians and Czechs are ahead of them. An average Ukrainian older than 15 drinks 15.6 liters of alcohol a year. Among alcoholic beverages used are horilka; samohon (moonshine), including with infusions of fruit, spices or hot peppers; wine from Europe and Ukraine (particularly from Crimea); and mead (mid or medovukha), made from honey, water and yeast.

4. Top 5 countries by IT professionals 

Ukraine is at the 4th place worldwide (after the U.S., India and Russia) by the number of certified IT professionals, according to the Association "IT Ukraine" report. Today the number of certified professionals in the field of information technologies in Ukraine is about 25 thousand people, though the total number of IT professionals in Ukraine according to various estimates is ranging from 200 to 215 thousand people.
5. The world’s largest plane 

Ukrainians (Antonov Design Buerou) invented a plane with the largest freight-carrying capacity in the world (maximum takeoff weight is 640 tones) – the An-225 "Mriya". Originally, it was designed for spacecraft transportation. In 1988, when it debuted, the An-225 was 50 percent bigger than any airliner ever built before it. It remains the largest operational aircraft in terms of length and wingspan to this day.
6. The haviest silver coin in the world

It is a Ukrainian anniversary coin "10 years of hryvnia revival", issued in Ukraine in 2006. Its weight is 1000 grams.

7. The oldest shelters constructed by pre-historic man

At Mezhirich, a village in central Ukraine in 1965, a farmer dug up the lower jawbone of a mammoth while in the process of expanding his cellar. Further excavations revealed the presence of four huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings, dating back some 15,000 years, were some of the oldest shelters determined to have been constructed by pre-historic man. 

8. World's strongest man

Vasyl Virastyuk took the first place in the World's Strongest Man competition in 2004. He became the first strongman in history to win both a World's Strongest Man title and an IFSA (International Federation of Strength Athletes) world title.

9. The tallest living man in the world

A Ukrainian man Leonid Stadnyk, born in 1971 in Zhytomyr Oblast, is the tallest person in the world at 8 feet 5 inches (2.57m). He is 20 centimetres taller than the former titleholder, China's Bao Xishun, according to Guinness World Records (August 20, 2008).

10. Great number of people singing a national anthem at the same time

'Ukraine Has Not Died Yet' − at least 100,000 Ukrainians sang the country's national anthem together on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv on 2014 New Year's Eve in a sign of support for integration with Europe.