Interesting facts you didn't know about Ukraine, the heart of Europe
Russian forces on Thursday started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine –hours after President Vladimir Putin made an announcement for "a special military operation."
This marks the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II and confirmation of the worst fears of the West.
Ukraine, a country known for its beautiful and diverse landscape, well-preserved culture and tradition, has suffered heavily in its eight-year conflict with Russian-backed rebels.
Many people do not know much about Ukraine, other than maybe its flag and conflicts with its neighbour.
So here below are some interesting facts about Ukraine, the heart of Europe (as per latest data collected from different sources) –
- Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe in terms of landmass. The total area of Ukraine is 603,548sqkm
- 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores
- 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves
- 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves).
- 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons)
- 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves
- 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
- 8th place in the world in coal reserves
- 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area
- 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil
- 4th place in the world in barley production and exports
- 5th largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world
- 4th largest rye producer in the world
- 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons)
- 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs
- 2nd in Europe and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 billion cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU)
- 2nd largest in Europe and 7th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants
- 4th place in Europe and 13th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700km).
- 5th largest iron exporter in the world
- 5th place in the world in titanium exports
- 12th place in the world in exports of defence industry products
- 12th largest steel producer in the world