For a thousand years the Ukraine has been dominated by Mongols, Russians, the Polish, even the Cossacks and the Lithuanians. The invaders have come and gone but the people have remained grittily determined to be free.

Independence finally came in 1991, but it wasn't until the closing months of 2004 when the peaceful mass protest called the Orange Revolution forced the authorities to overturn the rigged presidential election to allow a monitored vote that swept reformist Viktor Yushchenko to power.

Ukraine is the bread basket of the old Soviet Union with the potential of becoming one of the most prosperous and powerful nations in the new Europe. According to Petter Hegre, it also has, the most beautiful women in the world.