The Western Ukraine is the area of Ukraine that embraces Volyn, Ivano-Frankovsk, Lvov, Rovno, Ternopol and Chernovtsy regions. In the west Ukraine borders with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, Rumania and Moldavia, the territories which join Ukraine with the countries of the western and central Europe.
The large cities of the western Ukraine are: Lviv, Uzhgorod, Ivano-Frankovsk, Rovno, Ternopol, Lutsk, Chernovtsy and Mukachevo.
The population of the area speaks generally Ukrainian. There are many dialects in this area as the result of the location close to the border. Some parts of the population speak Rumanian, Polish and Moldavian languages. The dialects in Zakarpattya differs most of all from the literary Ukrainian. The most multiethnic region is Chernovtsy region: Ukrainian – 75%, Rumanian – 12,5%, Moldavian – 7,3%, Russian – 4,1%, Pole – 0,4%, Byelorussian – 0,2%, Jews – 0,2% .
The western area locates the joint of two large physic-geographical regions – East-European flatland and Carpathian Mountains. In Carpathians in Ivano-Frankovsk Region is situated the highest peak of Ukraine – mountain Goverla – 2061m. The surface of Pridnestrovie and Prikarpattya is divided with rivers. On the territory of the Lviv Region there is the Great European Watershed, which demarcates the basins of Baltic and Black Sea. Here start many important river arteries of the Central-eastern Europe – Dniester, Western Bug and Sian. The area is covered thickly with forests. Ivano-Frankovsk Region possessed the tenth part of the whole forest resources of Ukraine. The western area is the territory of the generous nature and rich bowels of the earth. In the area there is a good mineral raw potential – coal, peat, natural gas (Volyn region). In the area there is the Baltic – Black Sea axis, along which exists the relative border between the Eastern and Western Europe.
The western area of Ukraine assembled the beautiful primordial nature with the great number of the gifts and the favorable climate. The agricultural and touristic sectors of economy are well developed here. Carpathian mountains is the popular place of the winter rest. The most popular ski bases are Dragobrat, Slavsk, Bukovel, Volovets, Vorohta etc. Area is rich in mineral water sources – 360 sources of different waters, which in their turn differ in composition and treating characteristics (sources of Truskavets, Morshyn, Zakarpattya).
The culture of the western area became the essential part of the world cultural legacy. There are a lot of archeological, historical and art monuments in the area, among them 6 have the national significance. These are Gorianskaya rotunda, Church of Franciscan, Cathedral, castle of Palanky, Palace of the earl Shenbourne and Podgoretski, Olesski and Zolochevski castles. In the area are retraced the active processes of interaction between western and eastern forms of the European culture, which mixed in the western luxury and the Slavic traditions. Every year the thousands of palmers visit the orthodox sacred place of the country – Holy Dormition Pochaevska Lavra – the second center of the orthodoxy in Ukraine. Pochaevska Lavra is considered to be one of the strongest places on the earth. Another strong energetic places are Sinai, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Monastery of Sergei Radonezhski and Potala – the residence of Dalai-Lama. As for the religious sphere the Greek-catholic dominate in the western regions, orthodox dominates in Volyn region and Zakarpattya.