Ukraine

Ukraine ウクライナ
Name:	Ukraine (Україна)
Human Name:	N/A
Alternative Spelling(s):	N/A
Age:	Unknown
Gender:	Female
Birthday:	August 24
Hair Color:	Blonde (manga), Platinum Blonde (anime)
Eye Color:	Blue
Height:	Unknown
First Appearance (volume):	Volume 2
First Appearance (strip):	Russia's Older and Younger Sisters
First Appearance (anime):	Episode 42
Japanese VA:	Yuki Masuda
English VA:	Lydia Mackay

Ukraine (ヨウクライン, ウクライナ, Ukuraina) is a character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Appearance

She has short blonde hair (which she keeps held back with a blue or green headband and clips), blue eyes, and wears a long-sleeved white blouse and blue overalls. Her most notable physical feature, however, is her large breast size, representing Ukraine's status as a major agricultural nation ("large tracts of land").  She can also be seen carrying a pitchfork at times.

In a sketch by Hidekaz Himaruya, she is shown to wear a long brown coat, pants, boots, and hat as her military uniform.

Personality And Interests

Ukraine is the oldest of the three siblings and is constantly getting dragged into some sort of mess. She is described by her brother as being very warm-hearted and motherly, having taken care of him and Belarus when they were little. He also notes that she's a bit of a cry-baby, yet with a big heart. She apparently has chest and back pains due to her assets. She was the one who gave Russia his scarf, which he continues to wear today.

Relationships

Russia

Main Article: Russia

Ukraine is Russia's older sister, and acted as a mother to both him and Belarus when they were younger. She was the one who gave him his scarf. Though she wishes to be with him again, she either winds up running away at the chance due to the issues that arisen between them (such as paying for gas), or due to being blocked from seeing him in some way (such as her boss prohibiting her from giving him anything). In his own way, Russia does still care about her.

Anime

Ukraine in Episode 42

Ukraine makes her debut anime appearance in Episode 42, which adapts Russia's Big And Little Sisters from volume 2 of the published manga. In the episode, she is unable to come up with payment for gas due to her poverty situation, and is later forbidden from sharing milk with her brother by her boss because of the gas conflict.

She wears a different hairstyle as a child in Episode 43.

Ukraine as a child in Episode 43

In the anime adaptation, her headband was changed to yellow while her hair became more of a platinum shade. Sound effects were also added to her movement for further elaboration on her large breast size.

Name

Though no actual human name was given for Ukraine by Hidekaz Himaruya, Japanese fans quickly coined the nickname Katyusha for her, after a Russian term for a headband (as well as a diminutive form of the name Yekaterina, and a term for rocket artillery). Some fans would later expand on this and coin the name Yekaterina "Katyusha" Braginskaya, which has been used as a human name for her in various fanworks.

Trivia

Ukraine in Gakuen uniform.

• Ukraine's birthday correspondes with the date of its independence from the Soviet Union, August 24th (shortly before its complete dissolution in December 1991).
• She appears in a concept sketch for Gakuen Hetalia.
• The "desktop mascot" of Latvia reveals that Ukraine is known for its surreal "guro" horror games.
• Although her breast size is one of her notable characteristics, early draft sketches of Ukraine depicted her with a more average bust. In the special edition booklet included with Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 3, Himaruya stated that though she was always intended to be a crybaby, she was originally more unlucky and put-upon along with her chest being smaller.
• In a recent blog post, Himaruya stated her possible names to be Irunya Chernenko, Maria, and Sofia.