Mixed Ukraine Trivia

1. The title of the quiz refers to mining, which has been much connected with the region of Donbas. Which Donbas city derives its name from the Ukrainian word for a miner?

From Quiz Mining Matters

Answer: Shakhtarsk

Shakhtarsk derives from the word Shakhtar, meaning "miner". It is located in Donetsk Oblast, one of the two oblasts (counties) that make up the region. However, all the cities of the region, more or less, arose from conglomerations of villages proximal to a big mine or a metallurgical plant.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Common nightingale

All these birds can be found in Ukraine, but the common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is the country's national animal. The nightingale is a migratory bird that winters in sub-Saharan Africa and returns to northern Europe to breed in the spring. It is an important element in Ukrainian folklore as a herald of spring that cheers us with its powerful and beautiful song. A Ukrainian legend would have the nightingale as coming from India and hearing the Ukrainian people sing sad songs. According to this legend, the nightingale sang to cheer them up and the Ukrainians responded by singing happy songs, so now the nightingale returns every year to hear the happy Ukrainian songs.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Blue and Yellow

The flag consists of a band of dark blue above a band of yellow, both bands being the same size. It was first adopted as Ukraine's national flag in 1918, when the country was fighting for its independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was subsequently banned when Ukraine became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922 and was not used again officially until Ukraine regained its status as an independent country following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From Quiz Mining Matters

Answer: Steppe

The steppe zone primarily convers most of Donetsk Oblast and the southern half of Luhansk Oblast. Precisely because of the terrain, this part has been historically very difficult to control and dominate, providing an incentive for fugitives, dissidents and even criminals to come there.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Eastern Orthodox Christianity

A 2022 survey indicated that 72% of the population of Ukraine claimed to be a member of one of the Eastern Orthodox Church denominations. Around 10% declared themselves to be atheists, with most of the rest belonging to another Christian denomination. The number of members of other religions, such as Hinduism, Judaism and Islam, were extremely small - less than 1% each.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: 1991

The dissolution of the Soviet Union took place between 1988 and 1991, with Ukraine being one of the last countries to declare independence. The forerunner to this was President Gorbachev's decision to loosen Soviet control over the countries of Eastern Europe as part of a far-reaching reform package. This liberalisation created an independent democratic momentum that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and then the overthrow of Communist rule throughout Eastern Europe. However, President Putin would invade Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Holodomor

Stalin's collectivisation of agriculture during the 1930s, in which the Soviet state took all agricultural produce for redistribution back to its citizens, is now regarded by historians as a disaster which led to widespread famine across the USSR and the deaths of many millions of people from starvation. Ukraine was particularly badly hit, and some historians have claimed that the famine was genocide - a deliberate attempt to wipe out the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian word "Holodomor" means roughly "death by hunger", and has similar connotations for Ukrainians as "Holocaust" does for the Jewish people. The Russian terms "glasnost" and "perestroika" mean "openness" and "reconstruction" and were two key reformist policies introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: knavery

Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, and the word 'knavery' can be formed using only the letters in 'Kiev, Ukraine'. It denotes a roguish or mischievous act and is derived from the noun 'knave', which Shakespeare used as an insult to describe a foolish and terrible person who is up to no good.

From Quiz Mining Matters

Answer: Serhiy Zhadan

Zhadan was born in 1974 in Starobilsk. Although in his adult life he moved to the city of Kharkiv, several of his literary works are set in Donbas. His musical career involves many albums released with his band, Zhadan i Sobaky, meaning "Zhadan and the Dogs". Among those albums, one should mention "Army Sports Club", "Fight for Her" and "Dogs".

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Boxing

Wladimir Klitschko is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time and was known for his exceptional knockout power. He ended his professional career with 64 wins from 69 fights, 53 of these by knockout. His elder brother Vitali was also a successful professional boxer who won multiple world heavyweight championships before entering a career in politics and becoming Mayor of Kyiv.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Carpathians

Most of Ukraine is fairly flat, consisting of fertile steppes and low hills. However, to the west of the Dniester River a section of the Carpathian Mountains passes through Ukraine, and this includes the country's highest point, Mount Hoverla, with a height of 6,762 feet (2,061 metres). As a whole, the Carpathian Mountains stretch for around 930 miles (1500 km) from the Czech Republic through Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Christianity

Ukraine has the world's second-largest Eastern Orthodox population after Russia. As of 2019, 82% of Ukrainians declared themselves to be Christian, of whom 72.7% were Orthodox. Judaism, Islam and Hinduism each accounted for just 0.2%.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Ivan Franko

Ivan Franko (1856-1916) is regarded as one of the founders of Ukrainian literature, and wrote in a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, criticism and political theory. He was closely involved in the nineteenth-century Ukrainian Nationalist movement, which he supported through his journalism and other writings. New versions of the 20-hryvnia note were issued in 1997 and 2003, and these also featured Franko's image. The writers Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky were both born in Russia, while Glière, although born in Kiev, was a composer.

From Quiz Mining Matters

Answer: Porridge

Kasha is a dish consisting chiefly of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), but in Avdiivka the dish is mostly prepared with rice. The rice is boiled for a little while, washed, spread on a towel and left to dry. Then it's to be boiled again, while adding beaten eggs and milk while stirring. If the procedure is done correctly, then the porridge will acquire a sweet taste like vanilla or milk and a yellowish colour.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Boxing

Vitali (b. 1971) and his younger brother Wladimir (b. 1976) have each won numerous boxing titles, although they never fought each other professionally. They both made their professional debuts at the same event in Hamburg, Germany, in November 1996. Vitali first won the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) heavyweight title in 1999, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) title in 2003. Of his 47 professional fights, he won 45 and lost two, before retiring in 2012. Wladimir won the WBO heavyweight title in 2000 (beating Chris Byrd, who had taken the title from Vitali six months earlier), and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title in 2006. He also won the World Boxing Association (WBA) title in 2011. Of his 69 professional fights, he won 64 and lost five, before retiring in 2017. Following his retirement, Vitali went into politics and in 2014 was elected Mayor of Kyiv, being re-elected in 2020. He was therefore Mayor when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and remained in the city throughout March, while Russian troops surrounded the city before being forced to fall back following strong Ukrainian resistance.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Hryvnia

The basic unit of currency in Ukraine is the hryvnia, which is subdivided into 100 kopiyok. The ruble is used in Russia and some other states of Eastern Europe, e.g. Belarus. The leu is used in Moldova and Romania.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Taras Bulba

Taras Bulba is the fictional hero of a short novel by Nikolai Gogol (1809-52). It is a dramatic and gruesome story, with Taras Bulba killing one of his two sons and seeing the other tortured to death, before himself being tied to a tree and burned alive. As such it is an obvious subject for an opera. Mykola Lysenko was one of the most significant figures of Ukrainian music in the late nineteenth century. He worked on his "Taras Bulba" opera during the 1880s, but it was not performed until after his death. Although Tchaikovsky admired it, and wanted to perform it in Moscow, Lysenko refused to allow the libretto to be translated into Russian, thus effectively preventing foreign performances. It eventually had its premiere in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in 1924. The other options were all real Cossack leaders from different periods of Russian history.

From Quiz Mining Matters

Answer: Fur coat

Shuba is a word that, in both Ukrainian and Russian, means "fur coat". Shubin is an entity similar to Germanic Kobolds, either a benevolent spirit helping miners or a malevolent entity wishing to demonstrate that he is the master of the mine. There are other theories concerning the etymology of his name, including an onomatopoetic one (that it derives from the shu-shu sound from methane accumulating in the mine) and that it derives from the surname of an oppressive mining master who committed killings in subterranean shafts.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Blue and yellow

Ukraine's flag is made up of two equal-sized horizontal bands of blue (upper) and yellow (lower). The blue symbolizes the sky and the yellow Ukraine's wheat fields. Ukraine is one of the world's top agricultural producers and exporters, for which it gets its sobriquet "the breadbasket of Europe".

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Crimea

The political background to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea is complex and has its roots in the region's history over hundreds of years. Historically and geographically, the region is part of Ukraine, but during the years when Ukraine was part of the USSR it became populated with a high proportion of ethnically Russian people. When the Soviet Union broke up and Ukraine became an independent country, many Crimeans retained loyal to Russia - a fact which Russian president Vladimir Putin used to justify its invasion in 2014, which he claimed was intended to protect "Russian citizens" at a time of unrest in Ukraine. The fact that the United Nations and the international community meekly stood by and allowed him to do this certainly encouraged Putin to feel he could get away with something similar when Russia invaded the rest of Ukraine in 2022.

From Quiz A Quizland Tour of Ukraine

Answer: Actor

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was born to Jewish parents in 1978. His father was a professor of computer science and his mother an engineer. He himself obtained a law degree but never practised as a lawyer. Instead, he became a successful comedic actor and in 2015, played the part of Ukrainian president in the television series 'Servant of the People'. He became president of his country in 2019.

From Quiz A Short Tour Of Ukraine

Answer: Actor and comedian

Zelensky's road to President of his country was unorthodox. He had previously built up a successful career as actor and comedian, including voicing Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dubbing of the popular 2014 UK film and its 2017 sequel. Then in 2015 he starred in a television series entitled "Servant of the People", in which he played a schoolteacher who was unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine, running on an anti-corruption ticket. Four years later, in circumstances that eerily reflected the TV show, Zelensky was himself elected President, before being even more unexpectedly thrust further onto the international political stage when his country was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

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Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:51 AM

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