Ukraine

Why it sticks

1. 1

   Ukraine is the largest country lying entirely within Europe.

2. 2

   The blue and yellow flag is often read as a blue sky over golden wheat fields — its black chernozem soil made it a "breadbasket of Europe".

3. 3

   The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened in northern Ukraine.

• Ukrainian Cyrillic uses і, ї, є and ґ, and lacks Russian ы and э.
• Licence plates have a blue strip with the Ukrainian flag and "UA" on the left, but no EU stars.
• Flat steppe with enormous fields separated by tree lines; Soviet-era blocks in towns.
• Tree trunks along rural roads are often whitewashed at the base.