Historical and legal studies of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the foreign countries in the end of the XX – the beginning of the XXI century

The article deals with the problems of the situation of Ukraine as a subject of international legal relations and the prospects of its diplomatic relations with various leading and influential countries of the world, such as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Poland. The purpose of the article is to study theoretical definition of concepts such as "diplomatic relations" and "diplomacy" that will reveal its main types and directions, in particular, the most favorable for independent Ukraine, as well as to find out the most perspective directions of Ukraine's interaction with these countries, which are manifested in promoting the development of friendly relations between them, the maintenance of international peace and security. Important areas of diplomatic "communication" will be economic, military-political, environmental, cultural, humanitarian and other types of relations through which Ukraine continues to increase its international potential and development towards the formation of such foreign policy that would fully reflect and defend the interests of Ukrainian society. The results analyze the significant areas of cooperation between Ukraine and powerful countries and establish the positive and negative directions of these relations. The findings capture the status of Ukraine, which it occupies as a subject of international relations, and points to the vector of its most favorable development on the international arena.