republic · Poland, Lithuania and Russia
Ukrainian SSR
Origins
After two earlier attempts, Bolshevik forces proclaimed a Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic in January 1919, with Kharkiv as capital. Despite defeats by the Whites and Poles, the Soviet regime was established by 1920, and in 1922 the republic became a founding member of the Soviet Union.
Rule and society
The 1920s brought Ukrainisation in schools and culture, but Stalin's forced collectivisation caused the famine of 1932 and 1933, the Holodomor, which killed millions. The capital moved to Kyiv in 1934. The republic gained western Ukraine in 1939, was devastated by German occupation, joined the United Nations in 1945 and received Crimea in 1954. Leaders such as Petro Shelest and Volodymyr Shcherbytsky ran it for Moscow.
Decline and legacy
The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the reforms of Gorbachev fed a national movement. On 24 August 1991 the Verkhovna Rada declared independence, confirmed by referendum on 1 December, and Leonid Kravchuk became the first president of independent Ukraine.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Ukrainian People's Republic was conquered by Ukrainian SSR1921 CE
- Ukrainian SSR was part of Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- Kholodny Yar Republic was conquered by Ukrainian SSR1922 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ukrainian SSR. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ukrainian-ssr
- MLA
- “Ukrainian SSR.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ukrainian-ssr. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Ukrainian SSR.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ukrainian-ssr.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ukrainian SSR’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ukrainian-ssr (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻