Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Economy of Ukraine" in English language version.
Greece consisted of discrete enclaves on which agriculture was difficult and residents turned to the sea for their livelihood. [...] Athens could not have survived without grain from Ukraine, one reason that Athens feared Persian movements toward the Dardanelles, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea, and maybe the main reason Athens extended so many rights of participatory democracy to lower-class male citizens who served in its navy.
From the mid-1500s one saw the second historical period of European orientation as 'increasing demand for grain on the European markets [led to] Ukraine earning its reputation as the breadbasket of Europe'.
In the 1860s and 1870s a major shift in economic structure began as czarist policy turned to promote modern industrialization [...]. [...] A huge government-supported program of railroad building began, followed by policies to attract foreign investors to develop metallurgy in the coal- and iron-rich areas of the South-East.
Throughout the 1990s, structural conditionality—including on privatization—expanded significantly in Ukraine's programs with the Fund.
Since 1991, officials, members of parliament and businessmen have created complex and highly lucrative schemes to plunder the state budget. The theft has crippled Ukraine. The economy was as large as Poland's at independence, now it is a third of the size. Ordinary Ukrainians have seen their living standards stagnate, while a handful of oligarchs have become billionaires.
