Economy, Transportation and Communications

Ukraine has an extensive state-owned and centrally planned transportation system of uneven quality. There are 169,491 km (105,317 mi) of roads and highways and 22,473 km (13,964 mi) of railroad track. The Dnieper and the Danube rivers are major waterways for international freight. Major airports are in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Donets’k, and L’viv. Air Ukraine is the national airline. The largest seaports, located on the Black Sea coast, are in Odesa, Illchinsk, and Mykolayiv. Major cities have subway systems, but automobiles are the fastest growing mode of transportation.

In 1998 Ukraine had 41 daily newspapers, some of which were government-owned. Many newspapers face rising production costs and plummeting readership. The largest newspaper is Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine), which has about 500,000 subscribers and is sponsored by the legislature. Although the blatant censorship of the Soviet regime has come to an end, the government still has indirect means of influencing the media.