Ukraine

Ukraine, or  Україна, is a country in eastern Europe on the Black Sea.

After being part of Russia for many years, Ukraine became independent in 1918 as Українська Народна Республіка' (the Ukrainian People's Republic) following the February Revolution in Russia. It issued a definitive series with Russian stamps still accepted for postage. However, it became necessary to differentiate legitimate postage stocks from imports, so trident overprints of many types were applied. Various local overprints were necessary because of the ongoing civil war. There are many forgeries of the trident overprints.

During 1920-22, hyperinflation made it necessary to overprint Russian stamps including those with trident overprints with a РУЪ. overprint that converted kopeck value stamp into ruble values. By 1922, Ukraine was once again part of Russia in the new Soviet Union. During 1941-43, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and used German stamps overprinted UKRAINE.

In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved and Ukraine became an independent nation. Its first stamp appeared in March 1992.

 File:Ukraine trident A.jpg|Russian 50 kopeck stamp with trident overprint. File:Ukraine 7r Kiev.jpg|Russian 7 ruble stamp with Kiev trident overprint. File:Ukraine pelure.jpg|Stamp from the 1918 People's Republic issue. File:Ukraine unissued.jpg|Stamp from the unissued 1920 series. File:Ukraine free pub.jpg|Publicity/propaganda stamp from the Soviet era agitating for a free Ukraine. File:Ukraine M stamp.jpg|Stamp of the current independent Ukraine. 

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