The Entire History of Ukraine

Shot 1 · establishing · 15s

The Historian introduces the land that existed before Ukraine, while forests, rivers, grasslands and fertile plains unfold through an animated historical panorama.

• Before there was a country called Ukraine…
• before Kyiv had become a capital…
• before princes, Cossacks, empires, or modern borders…
• there was only the land.

Shot 2 · establishing · 14s

The Historian introduces the land that existed before Ukraine, while forests, rivers, grasslands and fertile plains unfold through an animated historical panorama.

• A vast landscape of forests, rivers, grasslands, and fertile plains.
• And for thousands of years, people came here, built their homes here, fought here…
• and disappeared.

Shot 3 · wide · 6s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• And one of the strangest stories begins with something enormous.
• Mammoths.

Shot 4 · wide · 10s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• Around 15,000 years ago, humans living in what is now Ukraine created shelters unlike almost anything we would recognize today.

Shot 5 · wide · 11s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• At Mezhyrich, archaeologists discovered circular dwellings constructed from mammoth bones.
• The remains of roughly 149 mammoths were used at the site.

Shot 6 · wide · 12s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• These were not simply piles of bones.
• They were carefully arranged structures — evidence of planning, cooperation, and extraordinary adaptation to a harsh environment.

Shot 7 · close-up · 12s

At Mezin, bone instruments and communal music suggest that ancient people were creating culture as well as surviving.

• And nearby, at Mezin, archaeologists discovered bone instruments dating back roughly 20,000 years.
• Perhaps these ancient people were not simply trying to survive.

Shot 8 · close-up · 14s

At Mezin, bone instruments and communal music suggest that ancient people were creating culture as well as surviving.

• Perhaps they were already creating culture.
• Music.
• Community.
• Identity.
• Thousands of years before the first Ukrainian state would ever exist.

Shot 9 · establishing · 13s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Then, thousands of years later, something extraordinary happened.
• Around 4000 BC, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture created settlements on a scale that seems almost impossible for their time.

Shot 10 · establishing · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Some may have contained thousands of inhabitants.
• They produced sophisticated pottery.
• They cultivated crops.
• They organized enormous communities.
• And then…

Shot 11 · establishing · 13s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• they burned their cities.
• Archaeological evidence has led researchers to propose that some settlements were deliberately destroyed by fire and rebuilt repeatedly.
• But why?

Shot 12 · establishing · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Was fire part of a ritual?
• Was it a form of renewal?
• Was there a practical reason?
• We don't know for certain.

Shot 13 · establishing · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• And that uncertainty is what makes the story so fascinating.
• A civilization built enormous settlements…
• only to destroy them…
• and begin again.

Shot 14 · wide · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Long before Kyiv became the center of a powerful medieval state, the Ukrainian steppe was already a crossroads.
• Waves of peoples moved through these enormous grasslands.

Shot 15 · wide · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Trade routes connected distant regions.
• Warriors crossed the plains.
• Cultures collided, mixed, and transformed.
• Among the most famous were the Scythians.

Shot 16 · wide · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Their world was one of horses, warfare, trade, gold, and vast open landscapes.
• The steppe was never empty.
• It was a highway.

Shot 17 · wide · 6s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• And whoever controlled it could influence the world around it.

Shot 18 · establishing · 14s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Then came Kyiv.
• Built along the Dnieper River, Kyiv occupied a position that would become enormously important.
• The river connected northern lands with the Black Sea.

Shot 19 · establishing · 14s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Merchants traveled.
• Warriors traveled.
• Ideas traveled.
• And gradually, Kyiv became the center of a powerful medieval political world known as Kyivan Rus'.

Shot 20 · establishing · 5s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Its influence stretched far beyond the city itself.

Shot 21 · medium · 12s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• In the late tenth century, Prince Volodymyr faced a decision that would transform the future of the region.
• Religion was not merely about faith.

Shot 22 · medium · 12s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• It was politics.
• Culture.
• Diplomacy.
• Identity.
• Volodymyr adopted Christianity, and Kyiv entered a new cultural world.
• Churches rose.
• Written culture expanded.

Shot 23 · medium · 9s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• New artistic traditions appeared.
• And the transformation of Kyiv had consequences that would last for centuries.

Shot 24 · wide · 11s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reached one of the great heights of its medieval power.
• Yaroslav strengthened political connections across Europe.

Shot 25 · wide · 13s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• His family became part of a network of royal marriages.
• His daughters married into European dynasties.
• And one of them became particularly famous.

Shot 26 · wide · 5s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• Anna of Kyiv.

Shot 27 · medium · 13s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• In 1051, Anna of Kyiv married King Henry I of France.
• She became Queen of France.
• Her story reveals something important about medieval Kyiv.

Shot 28 · medium · 10s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• It was not an isolated frontier.
• It was connected to the political and cultural networks of Europe.

Shot 29 · medium · 13s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• Anna was educated in Kyiv and became associated with literacy at the French court.
• A woman who had grown up thousands of kilometers from Paris had