nation draft Ukraine
A people who kept their identity alive for centuries under other people's empires, and are now fighting to keep the state they won.
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv · Rbrechko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Understanding a Ukrainian in 5 minutes
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Kyiv came first
Ukrainians trace their story to Kyivan Rus', the medieval state centred on Kyiv, whose prince Volodymyr adopted Byzantine Christianity in 988. To Ukrainians, Kyiv is the heart of a history older than Moscow's, one that went its own way after the Mongols sacked the city in 1240. Russia's state narrative claims the same heritage and calls Russians and Ukrainians "one people". That overlap is why a medieval argument still feels urgent today.
- Kyivan Rus' (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Volodymyr the Great (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Hrushevsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2021)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
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A borderland between empires
For most of the last 750 years, Ukrainian lands were divided among other people's states. They passed from the Golden Horde to Lithuania and Poland, then to the Russian and Habsburg empires, and in the twentieth century to the USSR, Poland and others. Historians stress that, lacking a fully independent state for most of that time, Ukrainians carried their identity largely in language, church, folk culture and literature, though the Cossack Hetmanate and the Soviet Ukrainian republic also shaped it. Different rulers left east and west with different histories, and that still shows.
- Mongols (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ukrainian National Republic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
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The Cossack spirit
The Cossacks, free warriors of the steppe frontier, are at the heart of Ukraine's image of itself. In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky led them in a revolt that created a Cossack state, the Hetmanate. Russia dismantled it in the eighteenth century, but in national memory, shaped largely by nineteenth-century writers such as Taras Shevchenko, the Cossacks stand for freedom and self-rule. Around 90% of Ukrainians view Khmelnytsky positively, though Jews and Poles remember the same war as a catastrophe.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Hetman state (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires — Serhii Plokhy, Cambridge University Press (2012)
- Cossacks (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Orest Subtelny and Illia Vytanovych (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- Jews (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Jewish Population Losses in the Course of the Khmelnytsky Uprising — Shaul Stampfer, Judaica Ukrainica (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), vol. 4 (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Gzeyres Takh Vetat (YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe) — Shaul Stampfer, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (2010)
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A language that refused to die
The Russian Empire tried to keep Ukrainian from becoming a written language. An 1863 circular claimed that most "Little Russians" themselves denied it was a separate language, and the 1876 Ems Ukaz banned almost all publishing in it. Soviet policy swung from promoting Ukrainian to Russification. Many Ukrainians grew up speaking Russian, but since 2014, and especially since 2022, surveys show a marked shift towards Ukrainian: in 2025, 63% said they speak it at home, up from 52% in 2020, though wartime polls cannot reach occupied areas.
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- Seventeenth national survey: Identity. Patriotism. Values (August 17–18, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
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A century of catastrophe
Within a single lifetime Ukraine went through revolution and civil war, the Holodomor famine of 1932–33, which killed millions, and the Second World War, which killed millions more. Among them were 1.4–1.5 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Then came the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 and the Chornobyl disaster in 1986. Most Ukrainians today regard the Holodomor as a genocide.
- Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933 — Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, Pavlo Shevchuk, Alla Kovbasiuk, Canadian Studies in Population 42(1–2): 53–80 (2015)
- The Great Famine: Population Losses in Ukraine — Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Serguei Adamets and Serhii Pyrozhkov, Demography and Social Economy 2009, no. 2(12): 3–11 (Ptoukha Institute, NAS of Ukraine) (2009)
- The Turn Away from Economic Explanations for Soviet Famines (Roundtable on Soviet Famines) — Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Contemporary European History 27:3 (2018): 465–469, Cambridge University Press (2018)
- Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine — Anne Applebaum, Doubleday (2017)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Second World War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2024)
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Estimation of Demographic Losses of Crimean Tatars Caused by the 1944 Deportation — O. M. Gladun, O. P. Rudnytskyi, N. V. Kulyk, Demography and Social Economy 2(30): 11–28 (2017)
- Chornobyl nuclear disaster (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident (Chernobyl Forum report) — World Health Organization / IAEA / UNDP, World Health Organization (2005)
- The dynamics of attitude towards the 1932–33 Holodomor (November 2023) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2023)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
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Independence, chosen and defended
In December 1991, 90.3% of voters backed independence, with majorities of those voting in every region. Since then Ukrainians have twice filled Kyiv's Maidan to defend their choices: against a stolen election in 2004, and for a European future in 2013–14. Russia answered by annexing Crimea in 2014 and invading in full in 2022. Surveys in government-controlled areas show a growing share of citizens, in the south and east too, identifying as Ukrainian, and in a 2016 survey citizenship was the most common basis of identity.
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Orange Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Euromaidan Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, UN Assembly declares Crimea referendum invalid — UN News, United Nations (2014)
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 24 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2022)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Volodymyr Kulyk: Finally almost everyone became Ukrainian (KIIS survey on language and identity, December 2022) — I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2023)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
The story
Kyivan Rus'
880 – 1239 The Christianisation of Kyivan Rus'
Prince Volodymyr the Great of Kyiv adopts Byzantine Christianity for his realm.
- Volodymyr the Great (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Kyivan Rus' (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Read more
- Volodymyr the Great (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Kyivan Rus' (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Ukraine and Russia (and Belarus too) claim Volodymyr's baptism as part of their own story. When Russian leaders quote the medieval chronicle calling Kyiv "the mother of Rus' cities", rendered in Russian as "the mother of Russian cities", Ukrainians hear a claim on their past, and on their present.
By the late tenth century Kyiv was the capital of Kyivan Rus', a large and loosely held realm of East Slavic tribes, ruled by a dynasty of Scandinavian origin. Its prince, Volodymyr (Vladimir in Russian), had come to power in 980 by defeating his half-brother, and at first he backed the old gods.
The founding moment of a Kyiv-centred Christian civilisation that Ukraine continues directly, on a path that later diverged from Moscow's.
The shared cradle of a single people.
The Primary Chronicle tells how Volodymyr's envoys, sent to compare religions, found the liturgy in Constantinople so beautiful that "we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth".
Mongol, Lithuanian & Polish rule
1240 – 1647 The Mongol Sack of Kyiv
Batu Khan's Mongol army storms Kyiv, ending the city's role as the capital of Rus'.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Read more
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
For Ukrainians the fall of Kyiv marks the point where the Rus' lands of today's Ukraine and those around Moscow went separate ways. That divergence is central to the argument that Ukraine has its own history and is not a branch of Russia's.
By the thirteenth century Kyivan Rus' was no longer one state. Since the mid-1100s it had split into rival principalities, and Kyiv was a prize they fought over rather than a capital that ruled them. The Mongols first appeared in 1223, when they routed an alliance of Rus' princes on the Kalka River and then withdrew.
After 1240 Kyiv's heritage passed west, to Galicia-Volhynia and then to the Lithuanian and Polish states, and not north-east to Moscow.
The line of Rus' continued from Kyiv to Moscow, which became the heir of the Kyivan state.
The Cossack Hetmanate
1648 – 1763 The Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Cossack Hetmanate
A Cossack revolt led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky breaks Polish rule over central Ukraine and creates a Cossack state.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Hetman state (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Read more
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Hetman state (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
The Cossacks are the heart of Ukraine's image of itself as freedom-loving and self-governing, and Khmelnytsky is honoured as a founder of statehood. The same years are remembered as a catastrophe by Jews and Poles, which is worth knowing before you praise him.
The steppe south of Kyiv was a frontier in the sixteenth century. It was thinly settled, raided by Tatars, and a refuge for runaway peasants and adventurers who called themselves Cossacks. In the 1550s a nobleman, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, built a fortress on Mala Khortytsia, a small island below the Dnipro rapids.
A national liberation war against Polish lords that created the first Ukrainian Cossack state. Khmelnytsky is a founding hero.
A destructive rebellion that tore apart the Commonwealth and began its decline, remembered through Sienkiewicz's novel With Fire and Sword.
One of the great catastrophes of East European Jewry, the "Gezeirot Tah ve-Tat" (decrees of 1648–49), with Khmelnytsky as its perpetrator.
The Pereiaslav Agreement
Khmelnytsky's Cossack state accepts the protection of the Muscovite tsar, an alliance later read as Ukraine's "reunification" with Russia.
- Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Read more
- Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Pereiaslav is a textbook case of the same event meaning opposite things. Moscow celebrated it for centuries as a reunion of brothers. Many Ukrainians see it as the start of a long loss of self-rule, and are wary when it is invoked as proof that the two nations belong together.
By 1653 Khmelnytsky's Cossack state was in trouble. His Crimean Tatar allies had abandoned him in battle again, and the Ottomans could not be relied on against Poland. Since 1648 he had repeatedly asked the Orthodox tsar of Muscovy, Aleksei Mikhailovich, for help, and now he finally accepted the tsar's protection.
A temporary military alliance or protectorate that Muscovy later used to strip Ukraine of its autonomy.
The reunification of two fraternal peoples in a single state, freely chosen by the Cossacks.
Under two empires
1764 – 1916 Banning the Ukrainian Word: the Valuev Circular and the Ems Ukaz
The Russian Empire restricts and then almost entirely bans publishing in Ukrainian.
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Read more
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Language is still the most sensitive marker of identity in Ukraine. Memories of imperial and Soviet pressure on Ukrainian explain why many Ukrainians see promoting their language as repair, not repression, and why claims that Russian speakers are "oppressed" ring hollow to most of them.
In the nineteenth century, educated Ukrainians in the Russian Empire began collecting folk songs, writing in the vernacular and, like Shevchenko, imagining a nation. St Petersburg saw danger. In July 1863, during the Polish uprising, Interior Minister Petr Valuev ordered censors to stop passing religious and educational books in Ukrainian and books for popular reading, allowing only belles-lettres.
A deliberate attempt to stop a nation forming by silencing its language. Proof that the Russian Empire regarded Ukrainians as a problem to be dissolved.
Many officials saw "Little Russian" as a dialect of one all-Russian language and the Ukrainian movement as a separatist plot, often blamed on Polish intrigue, though the bureaucracy was not united.
Revolution & the Soviet century
1917 – 1990 The Ukrainian People's Republic
Amid revolution and civil war, Ukrainians proclaim an independent republic that is crushed within four years.
- Ukrainian National Republic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Read more
- Ukrainian National Republic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Modern Ukraine sees the 1917–21 republic as its direct ancestor. The blue-and-yellow flag, the trident and the anthem all come from it. Its defeat, caught between Russia and Poland, is often recalled as a warning of what happens when Ukraine stands alone.
When the tsar fell in March 1917, Ukrainian activists in Kyiv formed a Central Rada (council). Its chairman was the country's leading historian, Mykhailo Hrushevsky. At first the Rada sought autonomy within a democratic Russia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, it proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in its Third Universal of 20 November 1917.
The Holodomor
A famine caused by Soviet policy kills millions in Ukraine.
- Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933 — Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, Pavlo Shevchuk, Alla Kovbasiuk, Canadian Studies in Population 42(1–2): 53–80 (2015)
- The Great Famine: Population Losses in Ukraine — Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Serguei Adamets and Serhii Pyrozhkov, Demography and Social Economy 2009, no. 2(12): 3–11 (Ptoukha Institute, NAS of Ukraine) (2009)
- The Turn Away from Economic Explanations for Soviet Famines (Roundtable on Soviet Famines) — Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Contemporary European History 27:3 (2018): 465–469, Cambridge University Press (2018)
- Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine — Anne Applebaum, Doubleday (2017)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Read more
- Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933 — Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, Pavlo Shevchuk, Alla Kovbasiuk, Canadian Studies in Population 42(1–2): 53–80 (2015)
- The Great Famine: Population Losses in Ukraine — Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Serguei Adamets and Serhii Pyrozhkov, Demography and Social Economy 2009, no. 2(12): 3–11 (Ptoukha Institute, NAS of Ukraine) (2009)
- The Turn Away from Economic Explanations for Soviet Famines (Roundtable on Soviet Famines) — Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Contemporary European History 27:3 (2018): 465–469, Cambridge University Press (2018)
- Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine — Anne Applebaum, Doubleday (2017)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Many Ukrainians see Russian domination as a threat to their survival as a people, not just a political dispute, and the Holodomor is a big part of the reason. Denying or playing down the famine is deeply hurtful.
Holodomor means "death by hunger" in Ukrainian. It is the name for the famine that killed millions of people in Soviet Ukraine in 1932–33.
A deliberate genocide of the Ukrainian nation, recognised as such by Ukrainian law since 2006. Most Ukrainians today agree.
Historians agree that Stalin's policies caused the famine. They differ over intent.
A tragedy shared by many Soviet peoples, caused by collectivisation and not aimed at Ukrainians as a nation.
Ukraine in the Second World War
Ukraine becomes one of the main battlefields and killing fields of the war, fought over by Soviet and Nazi armies and torn by its own conflicts.
- Second World War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine in World War II: reference book (70th anniversary of victory over Nazism) — Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Kyiv (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
Read more
- Second World War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine in World War II: reference book (70th anniversary of victory over Nazism) — Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Kyiv (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
The war is still a battlefield of memory. Ukrainians lost millions fighting Nazi Germany, mostly in the Red Army, so Russian claims to be fighting "Nazis" in Ukraine strike them as grotesque. At the same time the record of the nationalist underground, admired by many and condemned by others, divides Ukrainians from Poles and Jews and, to a lesser degree, from each other.
In 1939 the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact let Stalin annex Polish-ruled western Ukraine, Galicia and Volhynia, and in 1940 Romanian-ruled northern Bukovyna. Soviet arrests and deportations followed. Germany invaded in June 1941, and by the end of that year it held almost all of Ukraine.
Ukrainians fought and died against Nazism in vast numbers, mostly in the Red Army, while also suffering under Soviet rule.
The Soviet people's "Great Patriotic War", with Russia at its centre. Ukrainian nationalists, and by extension today's Ukrainian state, are cast as "Nazis".
Babyn Yar
German SS and police units murder 33,771 Jews in a ravine on the edge of Kyiv in two days.
- Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2024)
- Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Babi Yar (Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity) — Karel C. Berkhoff, Macmillan Reference USA (ed. Dinah Shelton), via Encyclopedia.com (2004)
Read more
- Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2024)
- Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Babi Yar (Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity) — Karel C. Berkhoff, Macmillan Reference USA (ed. Dinah Shelton), via Encyclopedia.com (2004)
Babyn Yar is where Ukraine confronts the Holocaust on its own soil, including the role of local collaborators and decades of Soviet silence about who the victims were. It is now a national site of memory, and a Russian missile struck beside it in 2022.
German forces entered Kyiv on 19 September 1941. Of the city's Jews (about 160,000 by USHMM's estimate; the 1939 Soviet census had counted some 224,000), about 60,000 were still there, mostly women, children, the elderly and the sick, who could not or would not flee.
The Volhynia Massacres
Ukrainian nationalist forces kill tens of thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, and Polish reprisals follow.
- Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Read more
- Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
Volhynia is the most painful issue between Ukrainians and Poles, close allies today. In Poland it is a national day of remembrance. Many Ukrainians know it only vaguely, and official Ukraine has framed it as a tragedy with victims on both sides. It still flares up in politics between the two countries.
Volhynia, in today's north-western Ukraine, belonged to Poland between the wars. Its population was mostly Ukrainian, with a substantial Polish minority. Interwar Polish rule and Ukrainian nationalist violence had already poisoned relations. Then came Soviet occupation, Nazi occupation and the Holocaust, in which many of the men who later formed the UPA had served as German auxiliary police.
A planned extermination of Polish civilians by the OUN-B and UPA, with features of genocide.
A tragic chapter of a Polish–Ukrainian conflict with victims on both sides.
The Deportation of the Crimean Tatars (Sürgün)
Stalin deports the entire Crimean Tatar people from their homeland to Central Asia.
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Estimation of Demographic Losses of Crimean Tatars Caused by the 1944 Deportation — O. M. Gladun, O. P. Rudnytskyi, N. V. Kulyk, Demography and Social Economy 2(30): 11–28 (2017)
Read more
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Estimation of Demographic Losses of Crimean Tatars Caused by the 1944 Deportation — O. M. Gladun, O. P. Rudnytskyi, N. V. Kulyk, Demography and Social Economy 2(30): 11–28 (2017)
The Crimean Tatars ruled Crimea through their Khanate until 1783. Their exile and return are part of why Ukrainians see Crimea as more than a "Russian" peninsula, and the memory of 1944 shapes how many Tatars viewed Russia's return to Crimea in 2014.
The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic, mostly Muslim people whose Khanate ruled Crimea until Russia annexed it in 1783. In 1775 they still made up about four-fifths of the peninsula's population. 5% in 1897 and about a quarter by 1926.
The Chornobyl Disaster
A reactor explodes at the Chornobyl nuclear plant, and Soviet secrecy makes the disaster worse.
- Chornobyl nuclear disaster (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident (Chernobyl Forum report) — World Health Organization / IAEA / UNDP, World Health Organization (2005)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Read more
- Chornobyl nuclear disaster (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident (Chernobyl Forum report) — World Health Organization / IAEA / UNDP, World Health Organization (2005)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
For many Ukrainians Chornobyl is the moment they stopped believing Moscow would tell them the truth. The anger it caused fed the movement that led to independence five years later.
On 26 April 1986, reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl nuclear plant, north of Kyiv, exploded. It blew up during a safety test that ran out of control, made catastrophic by flaws in the reactor's design, and a radioactive cloud drifted over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and much of northern Europe.
The UN-led Chernobyl Forum (2005) estimated up to about 4,000 eventual radiation deaths among the most exposed groups.
A catastrophe compounded by Soviet lies, which undermined trust in Moscow and the Communist Party and helped energise the national movement.
Independent Ukraine
1991 – today Independence
Ukraine declares independence as the USSR collapses, then confirms it overwhelmingly by referendum.
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
Read more
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
Independence is recent and hard-won. Many Ukrainians alive today remember a time without a state of their own, which is why defending it carries such weight. Independence Day, 24 August, is the main national holiday.
Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of the late 1980s opened space that Ukrainians quickly used. Released political prisoners revived the Ukrainian Helsinki group, and a broad popular movement, Rukh, campaigned for democracy, the Ukrainian language and sovereignty. The Chornobyl cover-up had already badly damaged trust in Moscow.
The restoration of a statehood with a thousand-year tradition, freely chosen by an overwhelming majority, with majorities of voters in every region.
Modern Ukraine as an artificial creation of Bolshevik Russia, carved out of "historically Russian land".
The Budapest Memorandum
As Ukraine gives up the Soviet nuclear weapons on its soil, Russia, the UK and the US assure it that its borders will be respected.
- Budapest Memorandum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
Read more
- Budapest Memorandum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
Many Ukrainians see the memorandum as a lesson that giving up nuclear weapons without hard guarantees left them exposed, which helps explain their distrust of paper promises. Specialists note that the popular "we gave it away for nothing" version oversimplifies what happened.
When the USSR collapsed, some 1,900 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads were left on Ukrainian soil, numerically the world's third-largest arsenal. But command and control ran to Moscow, and Ukraine never had operational control of them.
The Orange Revolution
Mass protests overturn a rigged presidential election.
- Orange Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
Read more
- Orange Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
The Orange Revolution showed Ukrainians that peaceful mass protest on the Maidan could change the outcome of an election. Its disappointing aftermath also taught them that winning the square is not the same as reforming the state.
In November 2004 the presidential run-off between the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was marred by massive fraud. Hundreds of thousands of people, many wearing Yushchenko's campaign orange, occupied Kyiv's Maidan (Independence Square) for weeks. Ukraine's Supreme Court annulled the result, and Yushchenko won the repeat vote on 26 December.
The Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan)
Protests over a shelved EU agreement grow into an uprising that topples President Yanukovych.
- Euromaidan Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
Read more
- Euromaidan Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
For most Ukrainians the Maidan was a popular stand for dignity, a European future and an end to corrupt rule, and its dead, the "Heavenly Hundred", are national martyrs. Calling it a "coup", as Russian media do, is a quick way to offend.
On 21 November 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych's government suddenly suspended preparations to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. That evening a few thousand people, many of them students, gathered on Kyiv's Maidan to protest. When riot police beat the students and the authorities later rushed through repressive laws, the protest became a mass movement.
A popular protest for a European, democratic future against a corrupt government. In 2025, 67% of Ukrainians saw it this way, and a majority did in every region.
A Western-backed coup carried out by "nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites".
Annexation of Crimea and War in the Donbas
Russia seizes and annexes Crimea and backs an armed separatist war in eastern Ukraine.
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, UN Assembly declares Crimea referendum invalid — UN News, United Nations (2014)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine (as of 31 December 2021) — UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022)
Read more
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, UN Assembly declares Crimea referendum invalid — UN News, United Nations (2014)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine (as of 31 December 2021) — UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022)
For Ukrainians the war did not start in 2022. It started in 2014. These eight years turned many Russian-speaking Ukrainians against Russia, strengthened Ukrainian self-identification, and left Ukrainians deeply sceptical of ceasefires that do not hold.
In late February 2014, days after Yanukovych fled, unmarked Russian troops seized Crimea's parliament, airports and military bases. On 16 March a referendum was held under occupation, with no proper voter lists or independent monitors, and the authorities announced 97% support for joining Russia. Russia formally annexed the peninsula on 18 March.
An illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territory, and a war waged through proxies and regular troops. The 2014 referendum in Crimea has no validity.
Crimea, "always an inseparable part of Russia", freely chose reunification by referendum, and Russia was protecting the people of the Donbas from "genocide" by the Kyiv government.
Energiewende and the Zeitenwende
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine upends Germany's reliance on Russian gas and its post-war reluctance to invest in military power.
- Policy statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the German Bundestag, 27 February 2022 — Olaf Scholz, Press and Information Office of the Federal Government (2022)
- Indicator: Share of renewables in gross electricity consumption — Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) (2025)
- Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 — Tony Judt, Penguin (2005)
Read more
- Policy statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the German Bundestag, 27 February 2022 — Olaf Scholz, Press and Information Office of the Federal Government (2022)
- Indicator: Share of renewables in gross electricity consumption — Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) (2025)
- Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 — Tony Judt, Penguin (2005)
Germany moved from refusing to send lethal weapons in early 2022 to becoming one of Ukraine's largest military and financial backers, though Ukrainians often criticised its slow decisions.
Three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on 27 February 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Bundestag that the world faced a Zeitenwende, a "turning point of an era". He announced a €100 billion special fund for the armed forces, a commitment to NATO's defence-spending target, and a plan to end dependence on Russian energy.
The invasion proved that Germany's Russia policy had failed and that a large, rich country must be able to defend itself and its allies; energy independence and renewables are a security issue.
Many Germans, especially in the East and on the pacifist left, distrust rearmament and arms deliveries and fear being drawn into war; others resent high energy prices and the cost of the energy transition.
Russia's Full-Scale Invasion
Russia launches a full-scale invasion in an attempt to subjugate Ukraine.
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 24 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2022)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Read more
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 24 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2022)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
The full-scale war touches every Ukrainian family through the dead and wounded, the displaced, the bombed homes and the separated families. It has also strengthened Ukrainian national self-identification, accelerated the shift to the Ukrainian language and made Russia, for most Ukrainians, an enemy rather than a "brother".
On 21 February 2022, Russia's president gave a long televised address. He told his country that "modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, Communist Russia".
Aggression against a sovereign state, condemned by most of the world's governments. In April 2022, 89% of Ukrainians surveyed supported recognising Russia's actions as genocide.
A "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine and protect the Donbas, rooted in the claim that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
Core values & worldview
Ukrainians usually begin their story with Kyiv, but the land itself was a crossroads long before that. Greek colonies stood on the Black Sea coast, Goths passed through, steppe peoples came and went, and Slavic tribes settled along the Dnipro.
- Christianization of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
That history helps explain three things you will often notice.
Freedom and self-rule. In national memory, shaped largely by nineteenth-century writers such as Taras Shevchenko, the Cossacks are tied to the struggle for freedom and self-rule, and the Cossack era is treated as a core chapter of the nation’s history.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires — Serhii Plokhy, Cambridge University Press (2012)
- Cossacks (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Orest Subtelny and Illia Vytanovych (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Orange Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- Euromaidan Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Perception of the Revolution of Dignity — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- Sociopolitical attitudes of Ukrainians: identity, patriotism, history (August 4–9, 2026) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2026)
A nation in its own right. The deepest nerve is the claim, made in Russian imperial history and in today’s Kremlin rhetoric, that Ukrainians are a branch of the Russian people.
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine (5th revised ed.) — Andreas Kappeler, C.H. Beck (2019)
- On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2021)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Hrushevsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
History matters personally. In a large 2016 survey, 83% of Ukrainians said the history of Ukraine is important or very important to them, and in 2023 about 80% described their interest in it as high.
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
Faith is part of the picture for many, though not all. In two late-2025 surveys, 58–63% called themselves Orthodox and 6–12% Greek Catholic, while about one in six said they had no religion or were atheists.
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Daily life & customs
The year turns on church and folk holidays. The high point is Christmas Eve, Sviat-Vechir. Families sit down to a “holy supper” of twelve meatless dishes, beginning with kutia, boiled wheat with honey and poppy seed, and the season is filled with carolling.
- Christmas (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Christmas at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village 2017 — Pam Trischuk, with additional content by Robin Woywitka and Peter Melnycky, RETROactive (Alberta Culture and Tourism) (2017)
- Christmas (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Carols (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Petro Odarchenko (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Vertep (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Valerian Revutsky (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Christmas (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Leontovych, Mykola (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- “Carol of the Bells” at Carnegie Hall — Carnegie Hall Archives, Carnegie Hall (2022)
- The notes of 'Shchedryk' are now displayed on one of the walls of New York's Carnegie Hall — Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Institute (2025)
At Easter come pysanky, eggs decorated with designs drawn in beeswax and dyed layer by layer.
- Easter egg (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Pysanky / Писанки — Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas, University of Kansas (2026)
- Embroidery (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, UNESCO (2022)
- Oleksandr Tkachenko: Ukrainian borscht is inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage — Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Government Portal of Ukraine (kmu.gov.ua) (2022)
Culture is close to the surface of everyday life. Shevchenko’s poem “Zapovit” (Testament), a call to rise and win freedom, has been translated into well over 100 languages; a 1989 Kyiv edition gathered 147.
- Shevchenko, Taras (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Literature in translation (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Marta Tarnawsky (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (1993)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Chubynsky, Pavlo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Law of Ukraine 'On the State Anthem of Ukraine' (No. 602-IV, 6 March 2003) — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official legislation portal) (2003)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Dovzhenko, Oleksander (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Paradzhanov, Serhii (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Kotsiubynsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (programme note, screening of 11 March 2016) — Harvard Film Archive, Harvard Film Archive, Harvard University (2016)
- Introduction to the 'Ukraine on Film' series — Michael A. McRobbie, Indiana University, Indiana University (2022)
Language at home is changing fast. In a 2025 KIIS survey, 63% of Ukrainians said they speak Ukrainian at home, 13% Russian and 19% both, up from 52% Ukrainian in 2020. KIIS itself cautions that its wartime samples exclude occupied areas where Russian was widespread, so the real shift is probably somewhat smaller.
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- Seventeenth national survey: Identity. Patriotism. Values (August 17–18, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
Wounds & sensitivities
The Holodomor. The famine of 1932–33 is the deepest collective wound in modern Ukrainian memory. Scholarly estimates of the dead range from about 2.6 to 3.9 million excess deaths in the major demographic studies, and some sources give higher figures; the most detailed recent reconstruction counts 3.9 million.
- Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933 — Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, Pavlo Shevchuk, Alla Kovbasiuk, Canadian Studies in Population 42(1–2): 53–80 (2015)
- The Great Famine: Population Losses in Ukraine — Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Serguei Adamets and Serhii Pyrozhkov, Demography and Social Economy 2009, no. 2(12): 3–11 (Ptoukha Institute, NAS of Ukraine) (2009)
- The Turn Away from Economic Explanations for Soviet Famines (Roundtable on Soviet Famines) — Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Contemporary European History 27:3 (2018): 465–469, Cambridge University Press (2018)
- Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- The dynamics of attitude towards the 1932–33 Holodomor (November 2023) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2023)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2021)
- Golod 1932–1933 godov: tragediia rossiiskoi derevni (The Famine of 1932–1933: Tragedy of the Russian Village) — Viktor Kondrashin, ROSSPEN (2008)
- Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine — Anne Applebaum, Doubleday (2017)
The banned language. Under the tsars, publishing and performing in Ukrainian were restricted for decades. The 1876 ban was never formally revoked, though it lapsed in practice after 1905, and in 1877 not a single Ukrainian book was printed in the Russian Empire.
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
”…[the majority of Little Russians] themselves quite thoroughly prove that no separate Little Russian language has [ever] existed, does exist [now], and can [ever] exist, and that the dialect used by the common folk is the very same Russian language, only adulterated by the influence on it of the Polish language…”
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
The war. Since 2014, and on a vast scale since 2022, Russia’s war has touched almost every family. The Donbas war alone killed more than 14,000 people before the full-scale invasion.
- Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine (as of 31 December 2021) — UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Budapest Memorandum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- When Ukraine Traded Nuclear Weapons for Security Assurances: An Interview with Mariana Budjeryn — Mariana Budjeryn (interviewed by Arms Control Today), Arms Control Association (Arms Control Today) (2022)
The Second World War. Millions of people from Ukraine died, soldiers and civilians alike.
- Second World War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 24 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru (2022)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
- Parliament's Statement on Resolutions on Volyn Tragedy approved by Polish Senate and Sejm on July 7 and 22, 2016 — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2016)
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
Modern attitudes
Several shifts that began in 2014 and sped up after 2022 look durable.
Identity has consolidated. In late 2022, 90% of people in the south and east, regions once seen as Russia-leaning, identified as Ukrainian by nationality, up from 64% five years earlier. The later survey covered only government-controlled areas.
- Volodymyr Kulyk: Finally almost everyone became Ukrainian (KIIS survey on language and identity, December 2022) — I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2023)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Perception of the Revolution of Dignity — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- Volodymyr Kulyk: Finally almost everyone became Ukrainian (KIIS survey on language and identity, December 2022) — I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2023)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Russia is seen as an enemy, not a brother. The idea that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” now has very little support in Ukraine: 8% agreed in April 2022, down from 41% the year before.
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The eighth national poll: Ukraine during the war (April 6, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Dynamics of the population's attitude to Russia and the emotional background due to the war (survey of 13–18 May 2022) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2022)
The Soviet past is being re-read. Views of Soviet leaders were already mostly negative, and in 2022 they worsened sharply: only 13% of Ukrainians viewed Lenin positively and 7% Stalin, and fewer still in 2023.
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev — Timothy Snyder, The New York Review of Books (NYR Daily) (2010)
- Banderites (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Language is a choice, not a camp. In a 2023 poll, 81% of those who speak mainly Russian at home said Russian speakers face no systematic oppression in Ukraine.
- Are Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine oppressed and persecuted because of the Russian language (survey of 26 May – 5 June 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2023)
- Russia caught lying to OSCE about persecution of Russian speakers in Ukraine — Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF) (2020)
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- Volodymyr Kulyk: Finally almost everyone became Ukrainian (KIIS survey on language and identity, December 2022) — I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2023)
The founding document of the state expresses the sense of continuity many feel:
“…continuing the thousand-year tradition of state-building in Ukraine, … the Verkhovna Rada … solemnly proclaims the independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state – UKRAINE. The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.” (Translated from the Ukrainian.)
- Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine (Акт проголошення незалежності України) — Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official legislation portal) (1991)
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
Not all Ukrainians are the same
Region. The west, especially Galicia around Lviv, was ruled by the Habsburgs, not the tsars, until 1918.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Greek Catholic church (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Split between Ukrainian, Russian churches shows political importance of Orthodox Christianity — David Masci, Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center (2019)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Dynamics of the population's attitude to Russia and the emotional background due to the war (survey of 13–18 May 2022) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2022)
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
- Perception of the Revolution of Dignity — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
Language. At the 2001 census about two-thirds named Ukrainian as their mother tongue, but many more used Russian in daily life, especially in the east and the south.
- All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001: Linguistic composition of the population — State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (2003)
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Are Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine oppressed and persecuted because of the Russian language (survey of 26 May – 5 June 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2023)
- Russia caught lying to OSCE about persecution of Russian speakers in Ukraine — Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF) (2020)
Religion. Orthodox Ukrainians are split mainly between the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), granted autocephaly (independence) by Constantinople in 2019, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), historically under the Moscow Patriarchate; many others call themselves simply Orthodox.
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies (2018)
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) (2019)
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Generation. Young Ukrainians are noticeably less religious. In a 2025 survey, 52% of 18–24-year-olds called themselves believers, against 62–77% in older age groups.
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Minorities. Ukraine has always been multi-ethnic. In 2001, 77.8% were ethnic Ukrainians and 17.3% Russians, among more than 130 nationalities.
- All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001: National composition of population — State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (2003)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
Diaspora. Ukrainians began settling the Canadian prairies in the 1890s.
- Canada (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Brazil (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- Ukraine Refugee Situation (Operational Data Portal) — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR (2025)
- Christmas (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Carols (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Petro Odarchenko (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Vertep (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Valerian Revutsky (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Views of the past. Ukrainians disagree among themselves about figures like Stepan Bandera. Many admire him as an anti-Soviet fighter. Others, along with many Poles, Jews and historians, see the movement he led as tainted by authoritarian ideology and ethnic violence.
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev — Timothy Snyder, The New York Review of Books (NYR Daily) (2010)
- Banderites (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Meeting someone
Conversation starters
- Where they’re from. Ukraine is regionally diverse, and people are usually happy to talk about their home city or region, whether that’s the Carpathians, the Black Sea coast or the Dnipro.
- Food. Ask about their family’s borscht or what goes on the Christmas Eve table. Everyone’s version is the right one.
- Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, UNESCO (2022)
- Oleksandr Tkachenko: Ukrainian borscht is inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage — Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Government Portal of Ukraine (kmu.gov.ua) (2022)
- Music, poetry and film. Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, the story of “Carol of the Bells”, or contemporary Ukrainian bands and films are all good openings.
- Leontovych, Mykola (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- “Carol of the Bells” at Carnegie Hall — Carnegie Hall Archives, Carnegie Hall (2022)
- The notes of 'Shchedryk' are now displayed on one of the walls of New York's Carnegie Hall — Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Institute (2025)
- What they miss, and what they’re proud of. Many Ukrainians abroad are glad to talk about home on their own terms.
Topics to approach carefully
- The war. Assume that the person may have lost someone, or may have family under occupation or at the front. Don’t ask “why don’t you just negotiate?” or suggest giving up territory. Behind that reaction is the experience of the Budapest Memorandum and of ceasefires in the Donbas that never held.
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
- The Holodomor. Never minimise it or “both sides” it.
- The dynamics of attitude towards the 1932–33 Holodomor (November 2023) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2023)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- Language. Don’t assume a Russian speaker is pro-Russian, and don’t call Ukrainian a dialect of Russian. That was the tsarist line.
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press (2003)
- Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine (5th revised ed.) — Andreas Kappeler, C.H. Beck (2019)
- Bandera, the UPA and Volhynia. These divide Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. Listen before offering a verdict, and be aware that a Polish or Jewish friend may hear the same names very differently.
- The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (2021)
- Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2013)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- Church. Asking which church someone belongs to can touch the OCU/UOC split, which became painful after 2022.
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Common misconceptions
- “Ukrainians and Russians are basically the same people.” They share a lot of history, but after 1240 most of the Ukrainian lands developed for centuries under different rulers from Muscovy. The “one people” idea is now rejected by the vast majority of Ukrainians.
- Hrushevsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine (5th revised ed.) — Andreas Kappeler, C.H. Beck (2019)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- The eighth national poll: Ukraine during the war (April 6, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Dynamics of the population's attitude to Russia and the emotional background due to the war (survey of 13–18 May 2022) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2022)
- “Kiev.” The capital is Kyiv, the romanisation of the Ukrainian name. Kiev comes from the Russian form. Likewise, say “Ukraine”, not “the Ukraine”. It is a country, not a region.
- Kyiv (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Romanization of Ukrainian for Geographical Names — UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (2016)
- “Ukraine was always part of Russia.” Most Ukrainian lands were ruled from Vilnius and Kraków or Warsaw for centuries. Galicia, around Lviv, was under Polish and then Austrian rule until 1918.
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- “Russian-speaking Ukrainians want to join Russia.” Surveys show the opposite. Most Russian speakers identify with Ukraine and reject the idea that they are oppressed.
- Are Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine oppressed and persecuted because of the Russian language (survey of 26 May – 5 June 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2023)
- Russia caught lying to OSCE about persecution of Russian speakers in Ukraine — Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF) (2020)
- “There are two Ukraines, east and west.” Some scholars have argued exactly that, and regional differences have at times been sharp. But survey research mostly finds gradients across several regions rather than a clean split into two, and since 2014, especially since 2022, the differences have narrowed.
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group (2017)
- Perception of the Revolution of Dignity — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press (2022)
People everyone knows
Volodymyr the Great
Grand prince of Kyiv who expanded Rus' and in 988 made Byzantine Christianity its faith. Venerated as a saint "equal to the Apostles", he is claimed as a founder by Ukraine, Russia and Belarus alike.
- Volodymyr the Great (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Kyivan Rus' (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Cossack hetman who led the 1648 uprising and founded the Cossack state. A national hero to most Ukrainians, he is remembered by Jews for the massacres of 1648–49, and his 1654 pact with Muscovy is read very differently in Kyiv and Moscow.
- Khmelnytsky, Bohdan (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project (2023)
- Jews (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Jewish Population Losses in the Course of the Khmelnytsky Uprising — Shaul Stampfer, Judaica Ukrainica (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), vol. 4 (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Gzeyres Takh Vetat (YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe) — Shaul Stampfer, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (2010)
- Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
Taras Shevchenko
Born a serf, he became the national poet. His Kobzar (1840) and poems such as "Zapovit" shaped Ukrainian national consciousness, and the tsar punished him with military exile and a ban on writing and painting.
- Shevchenko, Taras (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Lesya Ukrainka
Pen name of Larysa Kosach-Kvitka, one of Ukraine's greatest poets and dramatists. Her verse drama The Forest Song (1911) is a classic of Ukrainian literature.
- Ukrainka, Lesia (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Mykhailo Hrushevsky
Ukraine's foremost historian. His multi-volume History of Ukraine-Rus' argued that Ukraine had its own line of history from Kyivan Rus'. In 1917 he chaired the Central Rada that founded the Ukrainian People's Republic.
- Hrushevsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books (2015)
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press (2010)
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press (2009)
Stepan Bandera
Leader of the radical OUN-B, whose movement proclaimed Ukrainian statehood in 1941 while pledging to work with Nazi Germany, and formed the UPA. The Germans rejected the proclamation and held him from 1941 to 1944, and the KGB assassinated him in 1959. Genuinely contested: a symbol of resistance to Soviet rule for many Ukrainians, but for Poles, Jews and many historians inseparable from the OUN's authoritarian ideology and ethnic violence. Soviet and pro-Russian propaganda has long used "Banderite" as a slur.
- Bandera, Stepan (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press (2003)
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press (2022)
- Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press (2007)
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group (2022)
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie (2011)
- A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev — Timothy Snyder, The New York Review of Books (NYR Daily) (2010)
- Banderites (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2024)
Try it yourself
The quickest way into a culture: a song, a film, a book and a dish.
“Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia… (Ukraine's glory and freedom have not yet died…)”
“…the independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state – UKRAINE. The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.”
“…[the majority of Little Russians] themselves quite thoroughly prove that no separate Little Russian language has [ever] existed, does exist [now], and can [ever] exist…”
Listen
Watch
Read
Taste
- Borscht Beet-based soup with countless family and regional versions; UNESCO listed the culture of borscht cooking in 2022 as heritage in urgent need of safeguarding.Recipe
- Kutia and the Holy Supper The twelve meatless dishes of Christmas Eve, starting with kutia, wheat with honey and poppy seed.Recipe
See & do
- Pysanky and vyshyvanka Wax-resist Easter eggs and embroidered shirts, each with regional patterns and symbols.Look it up
Where
Homeland Diaspora Significant place
Related
Russia · Poland · Jewish people · Germany
Sources & further reading
- The Ukrainian Question: The Russian Empire and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century — Alexei Miller, Central European University Press, 2003
- ICJ Delivers Order in Ukraine v. Russia Case (summary of the Order of 16 March 2022, Allegations of Genocide) — American Society of International Law (summarising the International Court of Justice), ASIL International Law in Brief, 2022
- Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine (5th revised ed.) — Andreas Kappeler, C.H. Beck, 2019
- The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (5th ed.) — Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press, 2022
- Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine — Anne Applebaum, Doubleday, 2017
- Attitude towards teaching Russian in Ukrainian-language schools (includes language spoken at home, 2020–2025) — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 2025
- Perception of the Revolution of Dignity — Anton Hrushetskyi, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 2025
- “Carol of the Bells” at Carnegie Hall — Carnegie Hall Archives, Carnegie Hall, 2022
- Pysanky / Писанки — Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas, University of Kansas, 2026
- All-Union Population Census of 1939: national composition of the population of Kyiv — Central Statistical Administration of the USSR, Soviet census returns (1939), as tabulated in later demographic publications, 1939
- Split between Ukrainian, Russian churches shows political importance of Orthodox Christianity — David Masci, Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 2019
- Volhynian massacre (seminar 'Common Memory', with Grzegorz Motyka, Piotr Tyma and Andriy Portnov) — European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, 2013
- Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s — Georgiy Kasianov, Central European University Press, 2022
- Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji „Wisła”. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947 — Grzegorz Motyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2011
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (programme note, screening of 11 March 2016) — Harvard Film Archive, Harvard Film Archive, Harvard University, 2016
- Volodymyr Kulyk: Finally almost everyone became Ukrainian (KIIS survey on language and identity, December 2022) — I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2023
- Russia caught lying to OSCE about persecution of Russian speakers in Ukraine — Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), 2020
- The 78th anniversary of the Volhynia Massacre — Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Institute of National Remembrance (Poland), 2021
- IARC Briefing: Cancer burden in Europe following Chernobyl (based on Cardis et al., International Journal of Cancer, 2006) — International Agency for Research on Cancer (World Health Organization), International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2006
- Kyivan Rus' (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Volodymyr the Great (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- History of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Hrushevsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Mongols (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Ukrainian National Republic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Hetman state (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Jews (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Valuev, Petr (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Ems Ukase (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Second World War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Holocaust (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Crimea (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Crimean Tatars (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Chornobyl nuclear disaster (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Referendum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Orange Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Euromaidan Revolution (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Chubynsky, Pavlo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Christianization of Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Christmas (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Leontovych, Mykola (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Easter egg (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Embroidery (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Shevchenko, Taras (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Dovzhenko, Oleksander (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Paradzhanov, Serhii (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Kotsiubynsky, Mykhailo (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Budapest Memorandum (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Banderites (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Greek Catholic church (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Canada (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Brazil (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Kyiv (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Galicia-Volhynia, Principality of (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Khmelnytsky, Bohdan (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Cossack-Polish War (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654 (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Galicia (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Trident (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Nazi war crimes in Ukraine (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Donets Basin (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Ukrainka, Lesia (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Bandera, Stepan (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (signed entries by subject specialists), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- The Great Famine: Population Losses in Ukraine — Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Serguei Adamets and Serhii Pyrozhkov, Demography and Social Economy 2009, no. 2(12): 3–11 (Ptoukha Institute, NAS of Ukraine), 2009
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS), 2019
- Babi Yar (Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity) — Karel C. Berkhoff, Macmillan Reference USA (ed. Dinah Shelton), via Encyclopedia.com, 2004
- Історична пам'ять: результати соціологічного опитування дорослих жителів України. Аналітичний звіт (Historical memory: analytical report, January 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine / USAID UCBI project, 2023
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 2025
- Dynamics of the population's attitude to Russia and the emotional background due to the war (survey of 13–18 May 2022) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 2022
- Are Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine oppressed and persecuted because of the Russian language (survey of 26 May – 5 June 2023) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 2023
- Ambivalent Memories: Commemorating 8 and 9 May in Kharkiv, Ukraine — Laura Eckl and Jan C. Bever, Cultures of History Forum (Imre Kertész Kolleg, University of Jena), 2020
- When Ukraine Traded Nuclear Weapons for Security Assurances: An Interview with Mariana Budjeryn — Mariana Budjeryn (interviewed by Arms Control Today), Arms Control Association (Arms Control Today), 2022
- Literature in translation (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Marta Tarnawsky (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1993
- Introduction to the 'Ukraine on Film' series — Michael A. McRobbie, Indiana University, Indiana University, 2022
- Oleksandr Tkachenko: Ukrainian borscht is inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage — Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Government Portal of Ukraine (kmu.gov.ua), 2022
- Estimation of Demographic Losses of Crimean Tatars Caused by the 1944 Deportation — O. M. Gladun, O. P. Rudnytskyi, N. V. Kulyk, Demography and Social Economy 2(30): 11–28, 2017
- Policy statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the German Bundestag, 27 February 2022 — Olaf Scholz, Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, 2022
- Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933 — Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, Pavlo Shevchuk, Alla Kovbasiuk, Canadian Studies in Population 42(1–2): 53–80, 2015
- Ukraine: A History (4th ed.) — Orest Subtelny, University of Toronto Press, 2009
- Cossacks (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Orest Subtelny and Illia Vytanovych (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Christmas at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village 2017 — Pam Trischuk, with additional content by Robin Woywitka and Peter Melnycky, RETROactive (Alberta Culture and Tourism), 2017
- A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples (2nd ed.) — Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press, 2010
- Kyiv TV tower attack evokes echoes of Ukraine's tragic past (Forensic Architecture / Center for Spatial Technologies investigation) — Pete Wilton, Goldsmiths, University of London (reporting the Forensic Architecture and Center for Spatial Technologies investigation), Goldsmiths, University of London, 2022
- Carols (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Petro Odarchenko (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931–1933 — R. W. Davies and Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre, 2025
- The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text — Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor (trans.), Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine — Serhii Plokhy, Basic Books, 2015
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton, 2023
- The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires — Serhii Plokhy, Cambridge University Press, 2012
- Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation — Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2007
- Jewish Population Losses in the Course of the Khmelnytsky Uprising — Shaul Stampfer, Judaica Ukrainica (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), vol. 4, 2015
- Gzeyres Takh Vetat (YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe) — Shaul Stampfer, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2010
- The Tenth National Survey: Ideological markers of the war (April 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group, 2022
- Seventeenth national survey: Identity. Patriotism. Values (August 17–18, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group, 2022
- The dynamics of attitude towards the 1932–33 Holodomor (November 2023) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group, 2023
- Sociopolitical attitudes of Ukrainians: identity, patriotism, history (August 4–9, 2026) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group, 2026
- The eighth national poll: Ukraine during the war (April 6, 2022) — Sociological Group "Rating", Rating Group, 2022
- All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001: Linguistic composition of the population — State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, 2003
- All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001: National composition of population — State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, 2003
- Lütten Klein: Leben in der ostdeutschen Transformationsgesellschaft — Steffen Mau, Suhrkamp, 2019
- The Turn Away from Economic Explanations for Soviet Famines (Roundtable on Soviet Famines) — Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Contemporary European History 27:3 (2018): 465–469, Cambridge University Press, 2018
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies, 2018
- The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 — Timothy Snyder, Yale University Press, 2003
- A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev — Timothy Snyder, The New York Review of Books (NYR Daily), 2010
- The Orthodox Church — Timothy Ware, Penguin, 1993
- Ukrainians on History, Culture and Polish–Ukrainian Relations (summary) — Tomasz Stryjek, Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin, Kamila Zacharuk, National Centre for Culture (Poland) / Rating Group, 2017
- Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 — Tony Judt, Penguin, 2005
- The notes of 'Shchedryk' are now displayed on one of the walls of New York's Carnegie Hall — Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Institute, 2025
- Holodomor 1932–1933 — Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, 2023
- Ukraine in World War II: reference book (70th anniversary of victory over Nazism) — Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Kyiv, 2015
- Indicator: Share of renewables in gross electricity consumption — Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency), 2025
- Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine (as of 31 December 2021) — UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022
- Backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, UN Assembly declares Crimea referendum invalid — UN News, United Nations, 2014
- General Assembly resolution demands end to Russian offensive in Ukraine — UN News, United Nations, 2022
- Ukraine: UN General Assembly demands Russia reverse course on 'attempted illegal annexation' — UN News, United Nations, 2022
- Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Section, UNESCO, 2022
- Romanization of Ukrainian for Geographical Names — UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 2016
- Ukraine Refugee Situation (Operational Data Portal) — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, 2025
- Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2024
- Vertep (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine) — Valerian Revutsky (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine), Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2024
- Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine (Акт проголошення незалежності України) — Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official legislation portal), 1991
- Law of Ukraine 'On the State Anthem of Ukraine' (No. 602-IV, 6 March 2003) — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (official legislation portal), 2003
- Parliament's Statement on Resolutions on Volyn Tragedy approved by Polish Senate and Sejm on July 7 and 22, 2016 — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2016
- Law of Ukraine 'On the Legal Succession of Ukraine' (No. 1543-XII, 12 September 1991) — Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 1991
- Golod 1932–1933 godov: tragediia rossiiskoi derevni (The Famine of 1932–1933: Tragedy of the Russian Village) — Viktor Kondrashin, ROSSPEN, 2008
- On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru, 2021
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 24 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru, 2022
- Address by the President of the Russian Federation, 21 February 2022 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru, 2022
- Address by President of the Russian Federation (on Crimea), 18 March 2014 — Vladimir Putin, Kremlin.ru, 2014
- Euromaidan: Profile of a Rebellion — Volodymyr Paniotto, Global Dialogue (magazine of the International Sociological Association), vol. 4 no. 2, 2014
- Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident (Chernobyl Forum report) — World Health Organization / IAEA / UNDP, World Health Organization, 2005