Kiev

The capital of Ukraine, in the north-central part of the country on the Dnieper River southwest of Moscow. One of the oldest cities in northern Europe, it was a commercial center by the fifth century and became the capital of Kievan Russia in the ninth century. Invaded by the Mongols in 1240, it passed to Lithuania in the 14th century, became part of the Russian empire in 1686, and was ceded to the USSR in 1920. Population: 2,660,000.