The situation in 2000
Ukraine was born at Slavutych. When children found a mass grave of murdered Chernobyl patients in October 1986, a Ukrainian unit under the war hero Ivan Kozhedub turned its rifles on the Soviet troops sent to crush the town. Kozhedub became the first president of an independent Ukraine in 1988; since 1994 the old dissident Vyacheslav Chornovil has led a nation still living beside the Zone.
14
8
3
49m
-
-
3
27
Resources
Army
35 divisions
- Armoured6
- Mechanised12
- Infantry6
- Airborne3
- Marines1
- Mountain1
- Garrison6
Navy
23 ships
- Carriers1
- Destroyers6
- Frigates10
- Submarines6
Air force
610 aircraft
- Fighters400
- Close air support60
- Strike aircraft150
Born at Slavutych
In April 1986 two reactors melted down at Chernobyl and Moscow said nothing. Ukraine was sealed off; the sick were taken away and never came back. In October children in Slavutych found where they had gone: a pit of patients shot in their hospital gowns. The town rose, and when Soviet troops came to crush it, a Ukrainian unit under the old war hero Ivan Kozhedub turned its rifles on them.
The rebellion spread from Slavutych across Ukraine and Belarus. In 1988 the Soviet Union collapsed and Kozhedub became our first president. Today the Zone is still poisoned, the graves are still being counted, and Ukraine is free.
Ideologies and leaders
In power on 1 January 2000: Vyacheslav Chornovil (People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh)). Every leader below can come to power in TND, through the elections, coups and roads of its focus tree.
Democratic
In power, 2000 Vyacheslav Chornovil
Conservatism
People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh)
Viktor Yushchenko
Liberalism
Petro Poroshenko
Conservatism
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Liberalism
Yulia Tymoshenko
Populism
Communist
Petro Symonenko
Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party of Ukraine
Fascist
Andriy Shkil
Fascism
UNA-UNSO
Oleh Tyahnybok
Fascism
Non-Aligned
Leonid Kuchma
Oligarchy
Independent
Viktor Yanukovych
Oligarchy
Yevhen Marchuk
Moderatism
Ivan Kozhedub
Junta
Patriarch Isotop
Absolute Monarchy
Viktor Medvedchuk
Oligarchy
Oleksandr Yanukovych
Moderatism
Yaroslav Ostrozky
Absolute Monarchy
The focus tree
Ukraine's own tree has 452 focuses. It opens with The Ukrainian Economy, The Steel Price Collapses, The Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukraine's Place, The Ukrainian Nation, The Republic of Chornovil and more. By kind: political (224), army xp (131), industry (97), historical (89). Taking every focus, one after another, would take about 47 years - the roads are exclusive, so a playthrough sees only part of it.
Drag to pan, Ctrl + scroll to zoom, click a focus for its description and rewards. Focus names in the guides below jump to it.
Loading the tree...
Path guides
How to reach each of Ukraine's roads. The same guides are in game, as free decisions in the Ukraine Path Guide category.
The 2004 Election
How Ukraine's politics begin:
- Play Chornovil's last term from : the arsenal, the fleet, the east, gas and the reform. No focus is tied to a date.
- and . Election night is an event: Viktor Yushchenko or Viktor Yanukovych. There are no primaries.
- Take the winner's first focus ( or ). The loser's road disappears.
With historical focuses on, the AI elects Yushchenko and takes the Nuclear Fortress.
The Unity of Ukraine
The tree's mechanic:
The Unity of Ukraine is a balance of power, shown in its decision category, between the Pull of Moscow and One Ukraine: how far the Russian-speaking east and south stand with Kyiv. Towards One Ukraine it gives stability and war support; towards Moscow it takes them.
Russia's Gathering of the Lands can hold its referendum once our stability is under 35%: a divided Ukraine can be carved up.
The decisions in The Unity of Ukraine buy unity and answer each step of Russia's track: expose the compatriots, reverse the gas flow, and - if the arsenal was kept - the nuclear alert.
Deep on Moscow's side (A Country Divided) separatists rise in the east; far on Kyiv's (One Nation) the country is one.
The European Choice
:
- Elect Yushchenko and play his road to ; the event picks the European choice.
- The criteria, the association agreement and the accession referendum, which must pass to join the European Union; partnerships - not membership - with the Defence Union, the United States and Britain, which can then be asked for lend-lease (once Russia sends its little green men, or we are at war) and volunteers (at war), in the Western Partners decisions.
- The arsenal: keep it national, or offer it to a European deterrent. A presidential election inside the road decides who follows Yushchenko.
The Nuclear Fortress
Neither Moscow nor Brussels, and armed (historical):
- Elect Yushchenko and pick the Nuclear Fortress at (Yevhen Marchuk).
- The deterrent modernised, total defence, treaties with both sides (if refused, decisions let us court them and ask again), the neutrality referendum.
- : an eastern bloc with Romania (Romania founds it, or takes us in; its own tree may ask first), then a joint command and invitations to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Party of Regions
The east in power:
- Elect Yanukovych and take : the language law, the gas deal, the Kharkiv accords.
- is an event with three outcomes: Yanukovych turns to Moscow (the Eastern choice, then Medvedchuk; the Union of Brotherly Peoples can join Ukraine to Russia), crushes the square (the Donetsk clan state), or flees (the National Revolution).
Something Hidden
Three roads are hidden:
One flies in from 1986, if the President cannot govern.
One glows, somewhere in the Nuclear Fortress.
One is dug up from under a church, during the National Revolution.
None is taken by the AI when historical focuses are on.
The Shared Branches
Outside politics:
The economy (the breadbasket, the Donbas, Antonov, the atom; Ukraine is outside the European Union and has its own way out of the 2008 crash; one focus lets our pipelines carry gas back east).
The armed forces (the army, the Black Sea navy, the air force and the strategic forces), foreign policy (GUAM, the Lublin Triangle, and partnerships with NATO and the Defence Union) and the nation (the Church, the language, Holodomor remembrance).
Mechanics
How Ukraine's own systems work. In game: the Ukraine: Mechanic Guide decisions.
Russia's Gathering of the Lands
Russia wants back what it lost in 1988, one land at a time: Ukraine's east and Crimea, Belarus, Kaliningrad, Transnistria, Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Narva, Latgale, a corridor through Lithuania and northern Kazakhstan.
The steps, at least a year apart: Compatriots (our stability falls), the Gas Weapon (give in, or hold out and risk an Energy Crisis), Little Green Men (Russia gains claims and our state is destabilised) and finally a Referendum or Union Treaty. A referendum or union is only accepted by a land that is weak, at war with Russia or gave in to the gas weapon: keep your stability up and do not give in.
Demands: once Russia's track has reached the gas weapon it can demand one state at a time. Cede it, refuse (Russia gains a war goal) or appeal to the West, which backs you with a guarantee or makes you give way.
Russian Provocation is your shield: every Russian step raises it. At 25 the West sanctions Russia; at 50 every land Russia wants is guaranteed by the West; at 75 a Russian war lets the Defence Union or NATO intervene.
Gas: if Russia cuts you off you suffer an Energy Crisis (consumer goods up, stability and factory output down). The Energy Security decisions - Emergency Rationing, Fill the Storage, From the West, An LNG Terminal, Nuclear and Coal - lift it over months. Prepare before the cut, not after.
The Unity of Ukraine
How far the Russian-speaking east and south stand with Kyiv: a bar between the Pull of Moscow and One Ukraine, shown in The Unity of Ukraine decisions. It starts a little towards One Ukraine.
Its five ranges give or take stability and war support. Deep on Moscow's side (A Country Divided) separatists rise in the east; reaching One Nation fires its event once.
Why it matters: Russia's Gathering can only hold its referendum once our stability is under 35%. A united Ukraine cannot be carved up by a vote.
Decisions: Ukrainian Television in the East and Subsidise the Donbas Mines buy unity; Expose the Compatriots Network, from Europe and, if the arsenal was kept, The Nuclear Alert (Russia backs down or calls the bluff) each push Russia's track back.
The Western Partners
Ukraine joins neither NATO nor the Defence Union. The USA, Britain and the Defence Union's leader can make it a partner (asked from the European road and the foreign branch); a refusal can be courted and asked again.
A partner can be asked for Lend-Lease (once Russia sends its little green men, or we are at war) and for Volunteers (at war: two volunteer brigades join our army), in the Western Partners decisions.