THE ROAD TO UKRAINE
Written by MOTORBIKE EUROPE Road Writers -
Ukraine has borders with Russia, Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. In the south, the coast meets the Black Sea, where the Crimean peninsula is located. Ukraine, in terms of area, is second only to Russia, the largest country geographically situated in Europe. The capital is Kiev, with 2,6 million inhabitants.
The landscape in Ukraine consists mostly of fertile plains, or steppes, the largest being the Ponto-Caspian plain. The Danube Delta forms the border with Romania in the southwest. The country's only mountain region is the Carpathian Mountains in the west, home to Ukraine's highest mountain, Hoverla, rising to 2,061 meters above sea level.
Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate, which is more like what one finds in the coastal areas in the Mediterranean. There is most precipitation in the west and north, lesser in east and southeast.
The Chernobyl disaster, which occurred on the 26th of April 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, has left a huge scar on the image of Ukraine. This is mainly due to the massive explosion and subsequent fire, which released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe.
At one point, back in the 1980's, it was feared that the disaster might render much of Europe uninhabitable. It was not until that recent explosion at the Fukoshima Plant in Japan, that Humanity really began to take this sleeping threat seriously, with many countries re-taking Nuclear Risk assessments, and closing older, outdated and potentially insecure nuclear plants.
Today, you can visit the town of abandoned town of Pripyat, founded in 1970, to house workers for the Chernobyl Plant. Just 2 days after the disaster, it was completely abandoned by the entire population, and has remained virtually untouched ever since. This has enabled the local wildlife to regenerate itself, and thrive across the entire region, without the negative influence of people, controlling and killing them all the time. The area clearly demonstrates the influences and effects humanity has, on our surrounding ecosystem, and really gives you something to think about.
