History

2002 March - General election results in a hung parliament. Parties opposed to President Kuchma allege widespread electoral fraud.

2002 May - The government announced its decision to launch a formal bid to join NATO.

2000 - Chornobyl nuclear power plant is shut down 14 years after the accident. Well, over ten thousand people died as a direct result of the explosion, and the health of millions more was affected.

1996 - A new democratic constitution was adopted, and hryvnya currency was introduced.

1994 - Presidential elections: Leonid Kuchma succeeded Leonid Kravchuk and conducted a policy of balancing overtures to the West and alliance with Russia.

1991 - Ukraine declares independence following attempted coup in Moscow.

1990s - About 250,000 Crimean Tatars and their descendants return to Crimea following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

1986 - A reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear power station explodes,

The Chernobyl disaster was caused by a combination of flawed reactor design, inadequate safety procedures, and operator error during a poorly planned experiment. Specifically, the RBMK-type reactor had a positive void coefficient, meaning that a decrease in coolant (water) could lead to a runaway nuclear reaction. 

During a safety test, operators violated procedures, resulting in a dangerous power surge that ultimately led to explosions and a fire, sending a radioactive plume across Europe—desperate efforts where made to contain the damaged reactor within a massive concrete containment structure.

1960s - Increase in covert opposition to Soviet rule, leading to repression of dissidents in 1972.

1954 - In a surprise move, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transfers the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine.

Armed resistance to Soviet rule ends with the capture of the last commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

1944 - Stalin deports 200,000 Crimean Tatars to Siberia and Central Asia following false accusations of collaboration with Nazi Germany. More than five million Ukrainians died fighting Nazi Germany with most of Ukraine's 1.5 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

1941 - Ukraine suffers terrible wartime devastation as Nazis occupy the country until 

1939 - the Soviet Union annexes Western Ukraine under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

1932 - Millions die in a man-made famine during Stalin's collectivization campaign, known in Ukraine as the Holodomor.

1920s - The Soviet government encouraged Ukrainian language and culture within strict political bounds, although this process was reversed in the 1930s.

1921 - the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established when the Russian Red Army conquered two-thirds of Ukraine. The western third becomes part of Poland.

1918 - Ukraine declares independence. Numerous rival governments vie for control of some or all of Ukraine during the ensuing civil war.

1917 - Central Rada council set up in Kyiv following the collapse of the Russian Empire.

19th century - National cultural reawakening sees the development of Ukrainian literature, education, and historical research. Habsburg-run Galicia, acquired during the partitions of Poland, became a center for Ukrainian political and cultural activity, as Russia banned the use of the Ukrainian language on its territory.

1783 - Russia takes over southern Ukraine by annexing the Crimean Khanate.

1772-1795 - Most of western Ukraine is absorbed into the Russian Empire through the partitions of Poland.

1764 - Russia abolished the eastern Hetmanate and established the Little Russia governorate as a transitional entity until the complete annexation of the territory in 1781.

1708-09 - Mazepa uprising attempts to free the eastern Hetmanate from Russian rule, during the prolonged Great Northern War that ranged Russia against Poland and Sweden at the time.

1686 - Treaty of Eternal Peace between Russia and Poland ends 37 years of war with the Ottoman Empire in what is now Ukraine, and partitions the Hetmanate.

1654 - Treaty of Pereyaslavl begins process of transforming Hetmanate into a vassal of Russia.

1648-1657- Cossack uprising against Polish rule establishes Hetmanate, regarded in Ukraine as the forerunner of the modern independent state.

1596 - Poland establishes Greek-Catholic or Uniate Church, in union with Rome, which comes to predominate in western Ukraine. The rest of Ukraine remains overwhelmingly Orthodox.

1441 - Crimean Khanate breaks free of the Golden Horde and conquers most of modern southern Ukraine.

1349-1430 - Poland and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth gradually annex most of what is now western and northern Ukraine.

1237-40 - Mongols invade the Rus principalities, destroying many cities and ending Kievan Rus's power. The Tatars, as the Mongol invaders became known, establish the empire of the Golden Horde.

1019-1054), with Kyiv becoming Eastern Europe's chief political and cultural center. 

11th century - Kyivan Rus reaches its peak under Yaroslav the Wise (grand prince 

During the 10th century, the  Rurik dynasty was established, and the rule of Prince Vladimir the Great (Prince Volodymyr in Ukrainian) heralded the start of a golden age. 

During this time, the kingdom stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine claim Kyivan Rus as their cultural ancestors because Prince Vladimir accepted Orthodox Christianity In 988 and began the conversion of Kyivan Rus, which set the course for Christianity in the east.

During the 9th century, the Kyivan Rus was founded, the first central Eastern Slavonic state. The traditional account is a matter of debate among historians. It attributes its founding to the semi-legendary Viking (or Varangian) leader Oleg the Wise, who had become the ruler of Novgorod after Rurik and set his sights on Kyiv, which Askold and Dir ruled. Oleg was a strong and imposing ruler of Novgorod, characterized by a fierce and determined expression. He went on to seize Kyiv, owing to its strategic location on the Dnieper River, by leading his forces south along the Dnieper River, hiding his warriors in boats, and sending messengers to Askold and Dir, claiming to be merchants on their way to Greece. Upon arriving at Kyiv, Oleg employed a ruse. Capturing Smolensk and Lyubech along the way. When Askold and Dir came out to meet the "merchants," Oleg's hidden warriors emerged. Oleg then declared that Askold and Dir were not princes and that he, being of princely birth (and bringing with him young Igor, Rurik's son, whom he presented as proof of his legitimacy), was the rightful ruler.

He then had Askold and Dir killed, seizing power in Kyiv. 

Leading to Kyiv becoming the capital of Kyivan Rus.