Meadow steppe is one of the most rare and disturbed ecosystems in the middle reaches of the Dnieper river and indeed in Ukraine as a whole. In the period before agriculture, meadow steppe and deciduous forest were the predominant vegetation, playing an important role in formation of local landscapes. Now meadow is represented by just a few small plots (less than 1% of the area of the region under study). Research on meadow steppe began after most of this area had been transformed by pasturing, tillage or forestry. Considering the data of authors since the second half of the IX century, together with results of the present study (1991-1994), a picture of the region's flora can be constructed. There are about 520 species of plants in the meadow steppe of plots in the middle reaches of the Dnieper river. Meadow-steppe (84 species) and pure steppe species (101 species) are the most important, most characteristic and most vulnerable part of the region's meadow-steppe flora. About 30% of steppe species (29) are rare in the middle Dnieper area in general. Species which are found in just 1 or 2 localities include Cephalaria uralensis (Murr.) Röm. & Schult., Thymus latifolius (Bess.) Andrz., Stipa dasyphylla (Lindem.) Trautv., Crocus reticulatus Stev. ex Adam., Muscari neglectum Juss., Bulbocodium versicolor (Ker.-Gswl.) Spreng. and Hyacinthella leucophaea (C. Koch) Schur. Present results showed that the total number of pure steppe species has now declined to 4% (19 species). Steppe species which have probably vanished from Kiev and Cherkasy Oblasts include: Bellevalia sarmatica (Pall. ex Georgi) Woronow, Crocus angustifoilus Weston, Leopoldia tenuifolia (Tausch) Heldrz., Onosma pseudotinctoria Klok. and Astragalus dolichophyllus Pall. Human activity is largely responsible for these changes, though variations in climate during the last century may have also been a factor.