Ukraine and the Atlantic Community: Problems of Security and Development

Ukraine is one of the new independent states that emerged onto the international scene after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the appearance of this new state with a population of 52 million people, with a territory larger than France or Germany, with coal, iron, and manganese ore, rare metals, and the most fertile soil in Europe, and with a powerful (according to world standards) military-industrial complex was one of the most significant geopolitical events since the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945.1