This Soviet produced, English language film from 1982 presents the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine with its many factories, industry, and thriving transportation networks. The film starts with images of the bridge over the Dneiper River and the Moskovskyi Bridge. The film shows Karkov, Donetz, Odessa, Kiev and other Ukrainian cities. At 2:40, the country’s supreme Soviet is seen. 1982 represented the 1500th anniversary of the founding of Kiev, and that city is shown at 4:50 and afterwards. At 6:30, Kiev University is shown, and the handing out of graduation medals to students — many of them international. At 7:15, the opening ceremonies of the Ukranian Museum of the Second World War, attended by Soviet premiere Brezhnev, is seen. The first secretary of the Ukranian Communist Party is also seen. At 8:00, some of the industry in Ukraine is seen including chemical factories, modern steel plants, and auto factories producing cars and buses. At 9:00, turbines built at the famous Kharkov Tractor Plant are shown. The film ends with a look at some consumer products made in Ukraine including what appear to be TV sets and candies.
Ukraine was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from its inception in 1922 to its breakup in 1991. It is referred to sometimes as Soviet Ukraine by some historians. The Ukrainian SSR was a founding member of the United Nations, although it was legally represented by the All-Union state in its affairs with countries outside of the Soviet Union. Upon the Soviet Union’s dissolution and perestroika, the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into the modern nation-state and renamed itself to the Ukraine, although Ukraine’s new constitution was only ratified on 28 June 1996.
Throughout its 72-year history, the republic’s borders changed many times, with a significant portion of what is now Western Ukraine being annexed by Soviet forces in 1939 from the Republic of Poland, and the addition of Crimea in 1954. From the start, the eastern city of Kharkiv served as the republic’s capital. However, in 1934, the seat of government was subsequently moved to the city of Kyiv, which remained the capital of newly independent Ukraine.
Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in Eastern Europe to the north of the Black Sea, bordered by the Soviet republics of Moldavia, Byelorussia, and the Russian SFSR. The Ukrainian SSR’s border with Czechoslovakia formed the Soviet Union’s western-most border point. According to the Soviet Census of 1989 the republic had a population of 51,706,746 inhabitants, which fell sharply after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
