Discover your Ukrainian roots

Questions to ask the older generation

Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.

1. Which town or region of Ukraine did our family come from? Was it near Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro?
2. Who was the first in the family to leave Ukraine, when, and why?
3. Which dishes from Ukraine were cooked at home? Did anyone make Borscht or Varenyky?
4. Does anyone in the family still speak Ukrainian, or use a few words of it?
5. Were there songs, prayers, games or holidays from Ukraine that the family kept?
6. Are there old photos, letters or documents from Ukraine? Who has them?
7. If you could visit Ukraine together, where would you go first?

A short history of Ukraine

Ukraine's story runs from some of Europe's largest prehistoric villages, through the golden age of Kyiv and the Cossack state, to the hard years of the 20th century, independence in 1991 and a war that is still going on.

1. 4000 BC

   Trypillia farmers

   Around 4000 BC, farmers of the Trypillia culture were living between the Carpathians and the Dnipro. Some of their villages held thousands of houses and were among the largest settlements in Europe at the time.

2. AD 988

   Volodymyr adopts Christianity

   Prince Volodymyr the Great was baptised, and by tradition the people of Kyiv were baptised in the river in 988, although historians debate the exact year. Christianity from Byzantium shaped the art, churches and writing of Rus'.

3. 1648

   The Khmelnytsky Uprising

   The Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky led a great uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Out of it grew the Cossack Hetmanate, a Cossack state in central Ukraine.

4. 1840

   Shevchenko's Kobzar

   Taras Shevchenko, a poet and painter born into a family of serfs, published his book of poems Kobzar, 'The Bard'. Shevchenko himself became known as the Kobzar, and the book became a symbol of the Ukrainian national and literary revival.

5. 1941

   The Second World War

   Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and occupied Ukraine. Great battles and atrocities followed, and millions of civilians in Ukraine were killed, including most of Ukraine's Jews. At Babyn Yar in Kyiv, tens of thousands of Jews were murdered in September 1941.

6. 1991

   Independence

   On 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament declared independence as the Soviet Union fell apart. On 1 December 1991 more than 92% of voters approved it in a referendum.

7. 2004

   The Orange Revolution

   After a disputed presidential election, huge peaceful protests filled Kyiv, with orange as their colour. The Supreme Court ordered the vote to be repeated, and the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko won.

8. 2022

   The full-scale invasion

   On 24 February 2022 Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv was not taken, and Ukraine won back large areas later that year. As of September 2026 the war continues, and Ukraine is a candidate for membership of the European Union.

Family recipes to cook together

Borscht 2 h · serves 6Varenyky 1 h 30 min · serves 4Deruny (potato pancakes) 40 min · serves 4Syrnyky (curd cheese pancakes) 30 min · serves 4

Ukrainian words to teach the grandchildren

Towns and regions

• Kyiv, City of Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Its very deep metro stations.
• Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast: The Derzhprom building on Freedom Square, Its universities.
• Odesa, Odesa Oblast: The Potemkin Stairs, Its opera house and grand boulevards.
• Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast: Heavy industry and space technology, Its past as a closed Soviet city.
• Lviv, Lviv Oblast: Market Square and the old town, Coffeehouses from Austrian times.
• Vinnytsia, Vinnytsia Oblast: The Southern Bug river, A regional centre of Podillia.
• Chernivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast: The Residence of the Metropolitans, now the university, Austrian-era streets.
• Ivano-Frankivsk, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast: Gateway to the Carpathian Mountains, Its past as the fortress town of Stanisławów.
• Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia Oblast: Its embankment on the Uzh river, Its old Hungarian name, Ungvár.
• Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast: Its castle on the canyon, The old town above the Smotrych river.
• Poltava, Poltava Oblast: The Battle of Poltava of 1709, Poltava-style halushky.
• Chernihiv, Chernihiv Oblast: Churches from the time of Rus', Ukrainian Baroque buildings.