Present-day Ukraine is ruled by the Scythians since the seventh century BC. More and more parts of the are get under control of foreign powers, and in the third century the area is ruled by the Goths. They are driven out by the Huns in the fourth century. Slavic tribes occupy central and eastern Ukraine in the sixth century and play an important role in the establishment of Kiev. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kiev quickly prospers as the center of the powerful state of Rus' (Kievan Rus'). In the 11th century, Kievan Rus is, geographically, the largest state in Europe. Kievan Rus Prince Volodymyr converts the Kievan nobility and most of the population to Christianity in 988. Conflict among the feudal lords led to decline in the 12th century and many small feudal Russian states are formed. Halich-Volynia is the main states in the Ukraine.

In 1239 the Mongols capture large parts of the area and the Ukraine becomes part of Khanate of the Golden Horde, a Mongolian state. The northern parts of the area become part of Poland and Lithuania around 1350 and the southern part is ruled by the Tatars since 1430. The latter part becomes part of the Ottoman Empire. The free (non-Polish or Lithuanian) parts of the country merge into Russia in the period between 1654 and 1667. After the divisions of Poland between 1772 and 1795 the whole of Ukraine, except for the extreme west (under Austrian rule), is part of Russia. In the nineteenth century Russia bans the use and study of the Ukrainian language.

When World War I and the Russian revolution shattered the Austrian and Russian empires, Ukraine is declared independent statehood. In 1917 the Central Rada proclaimed Ukrainian autonomy as the Ukrainian Democratic Republic and in 1918, following the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd, the Ukrainian National Republic declared independence under President Mychailo Hrušhevski as the Ukrainian People's Republic. Hrušhevski is the leader of the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionary Party. The country is occupied by Russia in 1918, followed by a German and Austro-Hungarian occupation later that year. The Ukrainian People's Republic is resored in 1918. From 1919 until 1921 the country is led by Simon Petljura, also of the USRP. After three years of conflict and civil war, however, the western part of Ukrainian territory is incorporated into Poland, while the larger, central and eastern regions get under communist rule: The non-Polish parts of Ukraine are absorbed in 1921 by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, that joins the USSR in 1922 as a founding union member. Petljura is assissated in exile in 1926.

With Stalin’s rise to power and the campaign for collectivization, the Soviet leadership impose a campaign of terror that ravage the intellectual class. Stalin also creates an artificial famine (called the Holodomor in Ukrainian) as part of his forced collectivization policies, which kill millions of previously independent peasants and others throughout the country. Estimates of deaths from the 1932-33 famine alone range from 3 million to 7 million.

After the Nazi and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939, the western Ukrainian regions are incorporated into the USSR. Ukraine is occupied by Germany between 1941 and 1944. Armed resistance against Soviet authority continues as late as the 1950s. Ukraine became an independent state in 1991. Following free elections held in 1991, Leonid M. Kravčhuk, former chairman of the Ukrainian Rada, is elected president for a five-year term. Ethnic tensions in Crimea during 1992 prompt a number of pro-Russian political organizations to advocate secession of Crimea and annexation to Russia. Later that year the Crimean and Ukrainian parliaments determine that Crimea would remain under Ukrainian jurisdiction while retaining significant cultural and economic autonomy.

In 1994 Leonid Kučma is elected as Ukraine's second president in free and fair elections. Kučma is reelected in 1999 to another five-year term, with 56 percent of the vote.