The Former Soviet Satellite of Ukraine Research Paper

The Former Soviet Satellite of Ukraine - Research Paper Example Within such a construct of analysis, this paper will seek to identify key issues as well as provide a rational response to the ways in which these can work to be ameliorated. With regards to the geography of Ukraine, it occupies a territory larger than any other European nation asides from the Russian Federation. As such, due to the fact that the Russian Federation is divided between Europe and Asia, Ukraine can definitively be said to be the largest wholly European country. As with a large part of Eastern Europe, the landscape of Ukraine is mostly flat with fertile steppes stretching out over nearly 80% of nation. One of the defining aspects of the nation’s geography is that of the Danube and the Dnieper. The Danube accounts for the nation’s southwestern border whereas the Dnieper runs laterally bisecting the nation and flowing through a majority of the major cities and industrial centers of the nation. Geo-politically speaking, the nation is bordered by Russia and Belarus to the north, Poland and Slovakia to the west, Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea in the South. Of course it is difficult ot discuss the geography of the nation without discussing the way in which several failed Soviet experiments have inalterably changed the landscape and geography. Although there are a number of factors that contribute to this, a lion’s share of the death rate is directly linked to heavy smoking and alcoholism; both issues that continue to plague the nation.   Though it may seem to the reader than an extensive understanding of the demographic situation is not required before delving into the way in which the nation seeks to house and provide for its people, the fact of the matter is that such an issue has a direct correlation to the need, demand, and production of housing within the system (Tsenkova & Turner, 2004).