Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine
Kiev is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population in July 2013 was 2.8 million, making Kiev the 8th largest city in Europe. Kiev has an area of 323.9 mi².
Kiev is a global city (beta+). It is twinned with:
Ankara, Turkey
Baku, Azerbaijan
Beijing, China
Bratislava, Slovakia
Chicago, Illinois
Chişinău, Moldova
Edinburgh, Scotland
Florence, Italy
Kastoria, Greece
Kraków, Poland
Kyoto, Japan
Leipzig, Germany
Munich, Germany
Odense, Denmark
Pretoria, South Africa
Riga, Latvia
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sofia, Bulgaria
Stockholm, Sweden
Tbilisi, Georgia
Vienna, Austria
Vilnius, Lithuania
Warsaw, Poland
The Kiev metro is very similar to the metro in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But there are large areas in Kiev not serviced by the metro. Kiev is also serviced by buses, minibuses, trolleybuses, trams and taxis.
The least expensive way to get to Kiev center from the airport is via bus. There are also minibuses that serve the airport. And, of course, taxis. If you have reserved an apartment or hotel, they might also provide transportation between their apartment or hotel and the airport, usually for a fee.
Approximately 2 million people visit Kiev each year. This is a significant increase in tourism since Ukraine introduced a visa-free regime for EU-member states and USA.
Kiev has numerous visitor attractions, some of which are listed below. And some of which will be seen in this video.
Cathedrals, Synagogues and Mosques:
—Gate Church of the Trinity (Pechersk Lavra)
—Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ
—Refectory Church (Pechersk Lavra)
—St Andrew's Church
—St. Cyril's Monastery
—St. Nicholas Military Cathedral
—St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral
—St. Panteleimon's Cathedral
—St. Sophia's Cathedral
—St Volodymyr's Cathedral
—Trinity Cathedral
—Brodsky Synagogue
—Galitska Synagogue
—Great Choral Synagogue
—Karaite Kenesa
—Ar-Rahma Mosque
Museums:
—Building of Pedagogical Museum
—Golden Gate
—Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II
—Ivan Honchar Museum
—Kiev Archive Museum of Transitional Period
—Kiev Fortress
—Kiev Pechersk Lavra
—Memorial in Commemoration of Famines' Victims in Ukraine
—Mikhail Bulgakov Museum
—Museum of Ukrainian folk art
—Museum of Western and Oriental Art
—National Art Museum of Ukraine
—National Museum of the History of Ukraine
—National Museum-Preserve Battle for Kyiv 1943
—One Street Museum
—PinchukArtCentre
—Pyrohiv
—St Andrew's Church, Kiev
—Saint Sophia's Cathedral
—Savka House
—Museum of Soviet Occupation
—Ukraine State Aviation Museum
—Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum
Monuments:
—Afghanistan War Memorial
—Bykivnia Graves
—Fountain of Samson
—Independence Monument
—Kiev Pechersk Lavra
—Lach Gates
—Monument to the Magdeburg Rights
—Monument of the Great October Revolution
—Mother Motherland (Rodina Mat)
—People's Friendship Arch
—Saint Vladimir Monument
—Ukrainian House
—Vladimir Lenin monument
Squares:
—Bessarabska Square
—Constitution Square
—European Square
—Peremohy Square
—Postal Square
—Square of Contracts
In addition to parks, a zoo, and a circus, Kiev has some interesting streets which you might be interested in visiting:
—Bankova Street
This is a street in central Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, located in the Lypky neighborhood of the Pechersk District. Most of the street is pedestrianised and closed-off, as it houses the Presidential Administration of Ukraine and various official residences, notably the House with Chimaeras.
—Khreshchatyk
This is the main street of Kiev. The street has a length of 1.2 km. It stretches from the European Square (northeast) through the Maidan and to Bessarabska Square (southwest) where the Besarabsky Market is located. Along the street are located buildings of the Kiev City Administration which contains both the city's council and the state administration, the Main Post Office, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Central Department Store (TsUM), the Besarabka Market, the Ukrainian House, and others. During the weekends it is closed to traffic, becoming a pedestrian zone.
Kiev also has street food, typically found close to metro entrances. You can also find open air bazaars and farmers' markets, such as:
—Vladimirsky Rynok
—Demiivsky Rynok
—Bessarabsky Market
—Petrovka Market
—Kurenevskiy Market
—Zhitny Rynok
—Lukyanovsky Rynok
—Darynok.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on 26 December 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union (USSR). It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. On the previous day, 25 December, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, resigned, declared his office extinct and handed over its powers—including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes—to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.Previously, from August to December all the individual republics, including Russia itself, had either seceded from the union or at the very least denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. The week before formal dissolution, eleven republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the USSR had ceased to exist. Both the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also marked the end of the Cold War.
Several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with the Russian Federation and formed multilateral organizations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian Economic Community, the Union State, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union to enhance economic and security cooperation. On the other hand, the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on 26 December 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. On the previous day, 25 December, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the USSR, resigned, declared his office extinct and handed over its powers—including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes—to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.Previously, from August to December all the individual republics, including Russia itself, had either seceded from the union or at the very least denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. The week before formal dissolution, eleven republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the USSR had ceased to exist. Both the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also marked the end of the Cold War.
Several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with the Russian Federation and formed multilateral organizations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian Economic Community, the Union State, the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union to enhance economic and security cooperation. On the other hand, the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union.
Great Purge | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:01:25 1 Introduction
00:04:14 2 Background
00:10:04 3 Moscow Trials
00:10:14 3.1 First and Second Moscow Trials
00:14:06 3.1.1 Dewey Commission
00:16:18 3.1.2 Implication of the Rightists
00:17:53 3.2 Third Moscow Trial
00:20:11 3.2.1 Bukharin's confession
00:23:10 4 Purge of the army
00:24:51 5 The wider purge
00:27:14 5.1 Intelligentsia
00:27:58 5.2 Ex-kulaks and other anti-Soviet elements
00:34:04 5.3 Campaigns targeting nationalities
00:36:46 5.4 Western émigré victims
00:37:37 5.5 Executions of GULAG inmates
00:38:25 5.6 Mongolian Great Purge
00:39:15 5.7 Xinjiang Great Purge
00:40:14 5.8 Timeline of the Great Purge
00:41:29 6 End of The Great Purge
00:45:07 7 Western reactions
00:47:52 8 Rehabilitation
00:49:59 9 Number of people executed
00:51:31 10 Stalin's role
00:54:12 11 Soviet investigation commissions
00:56:49 12 Mass graves and memorials
00:58:26 13 Historical interpretations
01:00:24 14 See also
01:01:12 15 Notes
01:01:20 16 References and further reading
01:01:31 16.1 Books
01:11:32 16.2 Film
01:11:53 17 External links
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
Listen on Google Assistant through Extra Audio:
Other Wikipedia audio articles at:
Upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
Speaking Rate: 0.9930211940904694
Voice name: en-US-Wavenet-B
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (Russian: Большой террор) was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union which occurred from 1936 to 1938. It involved a large-scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials, repression of wealthy landlords and the Red Army leadership, widespread police surveillance, suspicion of saboteurs, counter-revolutionaries, imprisonment, and arbitrary executions. In Russian historiography, the period of the most intense purge, 1937–1938, is called Yezhovshchina (literally, Yezhov phenomenon, commonly translated as times of Yezhov or doings of Yezhov), after Nikolai Yezhov, the head of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, who was executed a year after the purge. Modern historical studies estimate the total number of deaths due to Stalinist repression in 1937–38 to be between 681,692 and 1,200,000.In the Western world, Robert Conquest's 1968 book The Great Terror popularized that phrase. Conquest's title was in turn an allusion to the period called the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution (French: la Terreur, and, from June to July 1794, la Grande Terreur, the Great Terror).