[1] The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile steppes[2] and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper, Siverskyi Donets, Dniester and the Southern Bug as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov.

To the east there are the south-western spurs of the Central Russian Upland, over which runs the border with the Russia.

Despite this, the country faces a number of major environmental issues such as inadequate supplies of potable water, air and water pollution, deforestation, and radioactive contamination in the north-east from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The country borders Belarus in the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in the west, Moldova and Romania in the south-west, and Russia in the east.

In general Ukraine comprises two different biomes: mixed forest towards the middle of the continent, and steppe towards the Black Sea littoral.

Most of Ukraine consists of regular plains with the average height above sea level being 175 metres (574 ft).

The plains have numerous highlands and lowlands caused by the uneven crystallized base of the East European craton.

From northwest to southeast the soils of Ukraine may be divided into three major aggregations:[11] As much as two-thirds of the country's surface land consists of black earth, a resource that has made Ukraine one of the most fertile regions in the world and well known as a "breadbasket".

However, their intensive cultivation, especially on steep slopes, has led to widespread soil erosion and gullying.

There are seven major rivers in Ukraine: Desna, Dnipro, Dnister, Danube, Prypiat, Siverian Donets, and Southern Buh.

[19] Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast.

[41] Air and water pollution affects the country, as well as deforestation, and radiation contamination in the northeast stemming from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.