Among industries depending on mineral wealth, smelting occu pies the first place; the production of cast-iron in 1927 was 77% of that in 1913 and 76% of all the cast-iron produced in Russia. Engine construction, the manufacture of machinery and agricul tural implements, steamer building, cycle, motor and aeroplane construction are developing rapidly. The manufacture of electro technical goods has developed since as a result of the removal to the Ukraine of two such undertakings from Riga, when that city passed from Russia to Latvia. Chemical industries, including the manufacture of artificial manure are markedly greater than in 1913. Other industries are brick, glass, and pottery manufacture.
Electrification is proceeding rapidly, the Shterov station in the Donetz region, working on anthracite dust, was opened in 1925-26 and has a capacity of 20,000 kilowatts, that at Artemovsk (1928) 22,000 kilowatts, and others have been opened. An important hydro-electric station is under construction (1928) on the falls of the Dnieper, as are sluices to allow vessels carrying corn and naphtha to the north and timber to the south to pass the falls. Cement, aluminium and ferromanganese factories are being con structed near the falls to work on electricity when the scheme is completed. The export trade of the Ukraine is mainly grain and flour, as in pre-war times and it still fluctuates in dependence on meteorological conditions, though the famine of 1921 led to much more careful selection of drought resisting plants.
Transport.—The network of railways is well developed in the Donetz region, and there are several east-west and north-south lines; several new lines have been opened and others are under construction. Air transport is developing, the first route being opened in 1925. Regular air services link Moscow, Kharkov and Odessa, with stops at Poltava and Kiev if desired and from Odessa, a regular service goes to Batum.
The Black Sea ports form a trading outlet for the Ukraine, Odessa (q.v.) is the most important, others (qq.v.) are Nikolayev, Kherson, Mariupol and Berdiansk. There are regular services to the Mediterranean and Vladivostok and there is much coastal trade. Trade through the Baltic Sea ports has been severely injured by the war time destruction of the fleet, by the severance of Bessarabia, by the unsettled external relations of Russia and by the decrease in production, and is far below the 1913 level, though some improvement took place in 1926-27.
Population.—The Ukraine includes within its borders about 20% of the total population of the U.S.S.R., and is one of the most densely peopled regions in Russia, averaging 64.2 inhabitants per sq.km., more than 8o% of whom are occupied in agriculture. The village settlements are large and, as a rule, are situated on the high and often precipitous banks of streams, so as to be safe from the spring floods, and they form almost continuous belts along the higher right bank of the rivers. The watersheds are less settled.
In respect of the percentage of people living in towns, the Ukraine occupies third place in the republics of the U.S.S.R., the Transcaucasian Federation coming first and White Russia sec ond, the town population is, however, increasing rapidly, the Ukraine being in a transition stage towards industrialisation. The six largest towns (qq.v.) are Kiev (493,873), Kharkov, the admin istrative centre (409,505), Odessa (411,416), Dnepropetrovsk (187,357), Stalin (105,739) and Nikolayev (101,182). Seven towns have populations of over 5o,000, nine of over 30,00o and ten of over 20,000. Though Kharkov is today considered the capital of the Ukraine, the administration having removed here owing to the unsettled conditions in Kiev, the latter is the real heart of the Ukraine, "the mother of cities" to the Ukrainians, foremost still in population and in its ancient culture dating back to the foundations of the Slav dominion in Russia. The site has been occupied since the dawn of history, and Aurignacian remains have been discovered. Of the whole population, about 8o% are Ukrainians (Little Russians), 9% Russians and 5% Jews, other nationalities represented being Poles, Germans, Moldavians, Greeks, Bulgarians and White Russians. The percentage of Rus sians in the towns rises to 25%, but is small among the agricultural population.
The Ukrainians are broad-headed, tall, long-limbed and broad shouldered. As a rule they are dark-haired and dark-eyed, and have broad faces, bright complexions and straight noses, though here, as elsewhere there has been racial intermixture and light and medium colouring often occurs. Their language began to be differentiated from Great Russian even in the 11th century, and the wedge thrust between the two peoples by the Tatar domination and the subsequent subjection of the Ukraine to Lithuanian and Polish rule emphasised the divergence.