Ukraine was one of the most devastated countries after World War II; the total of victims among the Ukrainian population is estimated between five and eight million.

Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the territory of Poland according to the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact thus Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian inhabitants became reunited with the rest of Ukraine and annexed to the Soviet Union; this was one of the crucial moments in the history of the nation.

When German armies invaded the Soviet Union on June, 1941; many Ukrainians regarded the Nazis as liberators, however, violent German rule in the occupied territories finally turned Ukrainians against the occupation, during this period, more than 200,000 Ukrainians were killed and more than 100,000 were deported to Germany for forced labour.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was formed, it fought both Soviet and Nazi armed forces, and was also responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands Polish civilians.

Ukraine History

Early history

Kievan Rus

Galicia-Volhynia

The Cossacks and the Russian Empire

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Ukraine and the World War II

Post-World War II

Independence