Ukrainians

{{further|Name of Ukraine}}

The modern name Ukraintsi (Ukrainians) is derived from Ukraina (Ukraine), a name first documented in the Kievan Chronicle under the year 1187. The terms Ukrainiany (first recorded in the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle under the year 1268{{efn|In the context of a Polish raid on Kholm (modern Chełm), capital city of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle notes sub anno 1268 (6776): "The Poles began to raid around Kholm (...) but they did not take anything, for [the people] had fled into the city, because the Лѧхове Оукраинѧнѣ" (Liakhove Ukrainianĕ, literally "Polish Ukrainians", "Ukrainian Poles" or "border Poles") "had let them know [that they enemy was coming]".{{sfn|Makhnovets|1989|p=426}}{{sfn|Perfecky|1973|p=85}}}}), Ukrainnyky, and even narod ukrainskyi (the Ukrainian people) were used sporadically before Ukraintsi attained currency under the influence of the writings of Ukrainian activists in Russian-ruled Ukraine in the 19th century.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Ukrainians and the Ukrainian Language |author= |encyclopedia=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |date=2001 |access-date=28 July 2024 |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/people.asp#Topic_1}} From the 14th to the 16th centuries the western portions of the European part of what is now known as Russia, plus the territories of northern Ukraine and Belarus (Ruthenia) were largely known as Rus, continuing the tradition of Kievan Rus'. People of these territories were usually called Rus or Rusyns (known as Ruthenians in Western and Central Europe).{{cite web | url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/people.asp#Topic_9 | title= The Ukrainian Highlanders: Hutsuls, Boikos, and Lemkos | work= People | publisher= Encyclopediaofukraine.com | date= 16 July 1990 | access-date= 2 November 2012 | quote= The oldest recorded names used for the Ukrainians are Rusyny, Rusychi, and Rusy (from Rus'). | archive-date= 27 November 2020 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014517/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/people.asp#Topic_9 | url-status= live }}

The Ukrainian language is, like modern Russian and Belarusian, a descendent of Old East Slavic.Yermolenko S. Y. (2000). [http://litopys.org.ua/ukrmova/um26.htm History of the Ukrainian literary language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003215442/http://litopys.org.ua/ukrmova/um26.htm |date=3 October 2019 }} // Potebnia Institute of Linguistics (NASU). In UkrainianRusanivsky V. M. (2000). [http://litopys.org.ua/ukrmova/um27.htm History of the Ukrainian language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409173100/http://www.litopys.org.ua/ukrmova/um27.htm |date=9 April 2022 }} // Potebnia Institute of Linguistics (NASU). In Ukrainian In Western and Central Europe it was known by the exonym "Ruthenian". In the 16th and 17th centuries, with the establishment of the Zaporozhian Sich, names of Ukraine and Ukrainian began to be used in Sloboda Ukraine.Wilson, Andrew. Ukrainian nationalism in the 1990s: a minority faith. Cambridge University Press, 1997. After the decline of the Zaporozhian Sich and the establishment of Imperial Russian hegemony in Left Bank Ukraine, Ukrainians became more widely known by Russians as "Little Russians", with the majority of Ukrainian élites espousing Little Russian identity and adopting the Russian language (as Ukrainian was outlawed in almost all contexts).{{cite web|first= Valentyn|last= Luchenko|url= http://luchenko.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=301&Itemid=50|script-title= uk:Походження назви "Україна"|trans-title= Origin of the name "Ukraine"|language= uk|publisher= luchenko.com|date= 11 February 2009|access-date= 16 March 2016|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160309161655/http://luchenko.com/index.php?id=301&itemid=50&option=com_content&task=view|archive-date= 9 March 2016}}{{cite web |url= http://litopys.org.ua/ |script-title= uk:Історія України IX-XVIII ст. Першоджерела та інтерпретації |trans-title= History of Ukraine IX-XVIII centuries. Primary Sources and Interpretations |language= uk |publisher= Litopys.org.ua |access-date= 16 March 2016 |archive-date= 10 December 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121210163342/http://litopys.org.ua/anton/ant18.htm |url-status= live }}{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/nazva_eu.htm |script-title= uk:Україна. Русь. Назви території і народу |trans-title= Ukraine. Rus'. Names of territories and nationality |language= uk |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Ukraine – I |publisher= Litopys.org.ua |year= 1949 |volume= 1 |issue= 12–16 |access-date= 16 March 2016 |archive-date= 11 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210211082051/http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/nazva_eu.htm |url-status= live }} This exonym (regarded now as a humiliating imperialist imposition) did not spread widely among the peasantry which constituted the majority of the population.{{cite book|author= Serhii Plokhy|author-link= Serhii Plokhii|title= Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past|url= https://archive.org/details/ukrainerussiarep0000plok|url-access= registration|access-date= 16 March 2016|year= 2008|publisher= University of Toronto Press|isbn= 978-0-8020-9327-1|page= [https://archive.org/details/ukrainerussiarep0000plok/page/139 139]}} Ukrainian peasants still referred to their country as "Ukraine" (a name associated with the Zaporozhian Sich, with the Hetmanate and with their struggle against Poles, Russians, Turks and Crimean Tatars) and to themselves and their language as Ruthenians/Ruthenian.{{request quotation|date= January 2016}}

With the publication of Ivan Kotliarevsky's Eneyida (Aeneid) in 1798, which established the modern Ukrainian language, and with the subsequent Romantic revival of national traditions and culture, the ethnonym Ukrainians and the notion of a Ukrainian language came into more prominence at the beginning of the 19th century and gradually replaced the words "Rusyns" and "Ruthenian(s)". In areas outside the control of the Russian/Soviet state until the mid-20th century (Western Ukraine), Ukrainians were known by their pre-existing names for much longer.{{cite book|author= Kataryna Wolczuk|title= The Moulding of Ukraine: The Constitutional Politics of State Formation|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj3WXcl_kcoC&pg=PA32|access-date= 16 March 2016|year= 2001|publisher= Central European University Press|isbn= 978-963-9241-25-1|page= 32|archive-date= 10 April 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230410143409/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj3WXcl_kcoC&pg=PA32|url-status= live}} The appellation Ukrainians initially came into common usage in Central Ukraine{{cite web|url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CA%5CL%5CAll6UkrainianNationalCongress.htm|title= All-Ukrainian National Congress|publisher= Encyclopediaofukraine.com|year= 1984|access-date= 16 March 2016|archive-date= 1 November 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211327/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CA%5CL%5CAll6UkrainianNationalCongress.htm|url-status= live}}{{cite web |url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CN%5CUniversalsoftheCentralRada.htm |title= Universals of the Central Rada |publisher= Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date= 2 November 2012 |archive-date= 1 November 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211332/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CN%5CUniversalsoftheCentralRada.htm |url-status= live }} and did not take hold in Galicia and Bukovina until the latter part of the 19th century, in Transcarpathia until the 1930s, and in the Prešov Region until the late 1940s.{{cite web|author= Himka, John-Paul|author-link= John-Paul Himka|url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CR%5CU%5CRuthenians.htm|title= Ruthenians|publisher= Encyclopediaofukraine.com|year= 1993|access-date= 16 March 2016|archive-date= 1 November 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211335/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CR%5CU%5CRuthenians.htm|url-status= live}} "A historic name for Ukrainians corresponding to the Ukrainian rusyny"{{cite web|author1= Lev, Vasyl|author2= Vytanovych, Illia|url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CP%5CO%5CPopulismWesternUkrainian.htm|title= Populism, Western Ukrainian|publisher= Encyclopediaofukraine.com|year= 1993|access-date= 16 March 2016|archive-date= 1 November 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211341/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CP%5CO%5CPopulismWesternUkrainian.htm|url-status= live}}{{cite web|author= Baranovska N. M.|url=http://ena.lp.edu.ua:8080/bitstream/ntb/14054/1/20_130-135_Vis724_Armiya.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219012625/http://ena.lp.edu.ua:8080/bitstream/ntb/14054/1/20_130-135_Vis724_Armiya.pdf|archive-date=19 December 2013|script-title=uk:Актуалізація ідей автономізму та федералізму в умовах національної революції 1917–1921 рр. як шлях відстоювання державницького розвитку України|trans-title=Actualization of ideas of autonomy and federalism in the conditions of the national revolution of 1917–1921 as a path to defending the development of the statehood of Ukraine|language=uk|publisher=Lviv Polytechnic National University|year=2012|access-date=15 March 2016}}

The modern name Ukraintsi (Ukrainians) derives from Ukraina (Ukraine), a name first documented in 1187.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/people.asp#Topic_1|title=Ukrainians and the Ukrainian Language|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|year=1990|access-date=16 March 2016|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014517/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/people.asp#Topic_1|url-status=live}} Several scientific theories attempt to explain the etymology of the term. According to the traditional theory, it derives from the Proto-Slavic root *kraj-, which has two meanings, one meaning the homeland as in "nash rodnoi kraj" (our homeland), and the other "edge, border", and originally had the sense of "periphery", "borderland" or "frontier region".{{cite book|last=Vasmer|first=Max|author-link=Max Vasmer|title=Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch|publisher=Winter|location=Heidelberg|year=1953–1958|volume=1–3|language=de}}; Russian translation:{{cite book|last=Fasmer|first=Maks|author-link=Max Vasmer|others=transl. Oleg N. Trubačev|title=Ėtimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka|publisher=Progress|location=Moscow|year=1964–1973|volume=1–4|url=http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fshare%2Fstarling%2Fmorpho&basename=%5Cusr%5Clocal%5Cshare%5Cstarling%5Cmorpho%5Cvasmer%5Cvasmer&text_word=%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0&method_word=beginning|access-date=31 October 2011|archive-date=19 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919205412/https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fshare%2Fstarling%2Fmorpho&basename=%5Cusr%5Clocal%5Cshare%5Cstarling%5Cmorpho%5Cvasmer%5Cvasmer&text_word=%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0&method_word=beginning|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Ф.А. Гайда. От Рязани и Москвы до Закарпатья. Происхождение и употребление слова "украинцы" // Родина. 2011. № 1. С. 82–85|publisher=Edrus.org|url=http://www.edrus.org/content/view/22784/56/|access-date=30 October 2012|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233814/http://www.edrus.org/content/view/22784/56/|url-status=dead}} According to another theory, the term ukraina should be distinguished from the term okraina: whereas the latter term means "borderland", the former one has the meaning of "cut-off piece of land", thus acquiring the connotation of "our land", "land allotted to us".{{cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/nazva_eu.htm|title=З Енциклопедії Українознавства; Назва "Україна"|publisher=Litopys.org.ua|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211082051/http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/nazva_eu.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/pivtorak/pivt12.htm|title=Україна" – це не "окраїна|publisher=Litopys.org.ua|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=16 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116034417/http://litopys.org.ua/pivtorak/pivt12.htm|url-status=live}}

In the last three centuries the population of Ukraine experienced periods of Polonization and Russification, but preserved a common culture and a sense of common identity.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CS%5CT%5CStruggleforIndependence1917hD720.htm|title=Struggle for Independence (1917–20)|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211351/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CS%5CT%5CStruggleforIndependence1917hD720.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web

|author=Mace, James

|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainization.htm

|title=Ukrainization

|publisher=Encyclopedia of Ukraine

|year=1993

|access-date=16 March 2016

|archive-date=1 November 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211356/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainization.htm

|url-status=live

}}

{{Main|Ukrainian diaspora}}

File:Uk1920.png]]

File:Ethnic-Ukrainians.jpg. Land inhabited by a plurality of ethnic Ukrainians is colored rose (not to be confused with the color given to Kalmyks, also rose).]]

File:Ukraine census 2001 Ukrainians.svg (2001)]]Most ethnic Ukrainians live in Ukraine, where they make up over three-quarters of the population. The largest population of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine lives in Russia where about 1.9 million Russian citizens identify as Ukrainian, while millions of others (primarily in southern Russia and Siberia) have some Ukrainian ancestry.[http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab5.xls Ethnic composition of the population of the Russian Federation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105043245/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab5.xls |date=5 January 2016 }} / [http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/perepis_itogi1612.htm Information materials on the final results of the 2010 Russian census] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322063857/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/perepis_itogi1612.htm |date=22 March 2014 }} {{in lang|ru}} The inhabitants of the Kuban, for example, have vacillated among three identities: Ukrainian, Russian (an identity supported by the Soviet regime), and "Cossack".{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm |title=Ukrainians |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |date=16 July 1990 |access-date=30 October 2012 |archive-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107090354/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm%20 |url-status=live }} in: Roman Senkus et al. (eds.), The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, revised and updated content based on the five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine (University of Toronto Press, 1984–93) edited by Volodymyr Kubijovyc (vols. 1–2) and Danylo Husar Struk (vols. 3–5). Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) (University of Alberta/University of Toronto). Approximately 800,000 people of Ukrainian ancestry live in the Russian Far East in an area known historically as "Green Ukraine".[http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2003/180304.shtml Ukrainians in Russia's Far East try to maintain community life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051255/http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2003/180304.shtml |date=4 March 2016 }}. The Ukrainian Weekly. 4 May 2003.

In a 2011 national poll of Ukraine, 49% of Ukrainians said they had relatives living in Russia.{{cite news |title=Why ethnopolitics doesn't work in Ukraine |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/ethnopolitics-doesn-work-ukraine-190409093526620.html |work=al-Jazeera |date=9 April 2019 |access-date=21 July 2019 |archive-date=18 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418161131/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/ethnopolitics-doesn-work-ukraine-190409093526620.html |url-status=live }}

According to some previous assumptions,{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} an estimated number of almost 2.4 million people of Ukrainian origin live in North America (1,359,655 in Canada and 1,028,492 in the United States). Large numbers of Ukrainians live in Brazil (600,000),{{efn|See also Prudentópolis, Brazil.}} Kazakhstan (338,022), Moldova (325,235), Argentina (305,000), (Germany) (272,000), Italy (234,354), Belarus (225,734), Uzbekistan (124,602), the Czech Republic (110,245), Spain (90,530–100,000) and Romania (51,703–200,000). There are also large Ukrainian communities in such countries as Latvia, Portugal, France, Australia, Paraguay, the UK, Israel, Slovakia, Kyrgyzstan, Austria, Uruguay and the former Yugoslavia. Generally, the Ukrainian diaspora is present in more than one hundred and twenty countries of the world.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The number of Ukrainians in Poland amounted to some 51,000 people in 2011 (according to the Polish Census).{{cite web|title=Przynależność narodowo-etniczna ludności – wyniki spisu ludności i mieszkań 2011. Materiał na konferencję prasową w dniu 29. 01. 2013|url=http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/Przynaleznosc_narodowo-etniczna_w_2011_NSP.pdf|website=stat.gov.pl|publisher=Central Statistical Office of Poland|access-date=19 June 2017|pages=3|archive-date=15 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515165423/https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/Przynaleznosc_narodowo-etniczna_w_2011_NSP.pdf|url-status=live}} Since 2014, the country has experienced a large increase in immigration from Ukraine.{{cite web|url=https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2015-10-19/migration-ukrainians-times-crisis|title=The migration of Ukrainians in times of crisis|date=19 October 2015|access-date=18 June 2017|archive-date=13 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413194712/https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2015-10-19/migration-ukrainians-times-crisis|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/3xu6a6/there_is_almost_as_many_ukrainian_immigrants_in/|title=There is almost as many Ukrainian immigrants in Poland as 2015 refugees in Europe. r/europe|website=reddit|date=22 December 2015|access-date=18 June 2017|archive-date=8 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408142823/https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/3xu6a6/there_is_almost_as_many_ukrainian_immigrants_in/|url-status=live}} More recent data put the number of Ukrainian migrant workers at 1.2{{cite web|url=http://praca.interia.pl/news-w-polsce-pracuje-ponad-milion-ukraincow,nId,2391654|title=Over 1.2 million Ukrainians working in Poland|website=praca.interia.pl|access-date=20 June 2017|archive-date=2 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102211446/https://praca.interia.pl/news-w-polsce-pracuje-ponad-milion-ukraincow,nId,2391654|url-status=live}} – 1.3 million in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-06/million-migrants-fleeing-putin-score-a-policy-jackpot-for-poland|title=Poland Can't Get Enough of Ukrainian Migrants|date=6 March 2017|access-date=20 June 2017|publisher=Bloomberg L.P.|archive-date=16 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116125947/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-06/million-migrants-fleeing-putin-score-a-policy-jackpot-for-poland|url-status=live}}{{efn|Ukrainian citizens may take up employment in Poland without obtaining a work permit for a maximum period of 6 months within a year on the basis of a declaration of intention to entrust a job to a foreigner. In 2016, over 1.262 million such declarations were issued for Ukrainian nationals.[http://www.migrant.info.pl/Documents_entitling_a_foreigner_to_work_in_Poland.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105173345/https://www.migrant.info.pl/Documents_entitling_a_foreigner_to_work_in_Poland.html|date=5 November 2021}}[http://www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/Milion-Ukraincow-zasililo-polski-rynek-pracy-w-2016-roku-7503408.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410133722/https://www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/Milion-Ukraincow-zasililo-polski-rynek-pracy-w-2016-roku-7503408.html|date=10 April 2022}}}}

In the last decades of the 19th century, many Ukrainians were forced by the Tsarist autocracy to move to the Asian regions of Russia, while many of their counterpart Slavs under Austro-Hungarian rule emigrated to the New World seeking work and better economic opportunities.{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/picturedisplay.asp?linkpath=pic%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians_Map.jpg|title=See map: Ukrainians: World Distribution|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Ukraine|access-date=30 October 2012|archive-date=17 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917163527/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/picturedisplay.asp?linkpath=pic%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians_Map.jpg|url-status=live}} Today, large ethnic Ukrainian minorities reside in Russia, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Italy and Argentina.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} According to some sources, around 20 million people outside Ukraine identify as having Ukrainian ethnicity,{{cite web|url=http://www.ucc.ca/2010/05/25/support-the-ukrainian-world-congress-connecting-ukrainians-around-the-world/|title=UWC continually and diligently defends the interests of over 20 million Ukrainians|publisher=Ukrainian Canadian Congress|date=25 May 2010|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225162019/http://www.ucc.ca/2010/05/25/support-the-ukrainian-world-congress-connecting-ukrainians-around-the-world/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/order/?id=168280|title=Ukrainian diaspora abroad makes up over 20 million|publisher=Ukrinform.ua|date=28 August 2009|access-date=2 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105155543/http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/order/?id=168280|archive-date=5 January 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ukraine-travel-advisor.com/ukraine-people.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329005214/http://www.ukraine-travel-advisor.com/ukraine-people.html|archive-date=29 March 2007|title=20 million Ukrainians live in 46 different countries of the world|publisher=Ukraine-travel-advisor.com|date=5 December 2001|access-date=2 November 2012}} however the official data of the respective countries calculated together does not show more than 10 million. Ukrainians have one of the largest diasporas in the world.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

{{further|Early Slavs|East Slavs|Ruthenians|Prehistoric Ukraine}}

The East Slavs emerged from the undifferentiated early Slavs in the Slavic migrations of the 6th and 7th centuries CE. The state of Kievan Rus united the East Slavs during the 9th to 13th centuries. East Slavic tribes cited{{By whom|date=June 2019}} as "proto-Ukrainian" include the Volhynians, Derevlianians, Polianians, and Siverianians and the less significant Ulychians, Tivertsians, and White Croats.Compare:

{{cite encyclopedia

|article = Ukrainians

|editor = Volodymyr Kubijovyc

|editor2 = Danylo Husar Struk

|encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Ukraine

|article-url = http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm

|publisher = Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) (University of Alberta/University of Toronto)

|date = 1990

|quote = From the 7th century AD on, proto-Ukrainian tribes are known to have inhabited Ukrainian territory: the Volhynians, Derevlianians, Polianians, and Siverianians and the less significant Ulychians, Tivertsians, and White Croatians.

|access-date = 10 November 2009

|archive-date = 7 January 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190107090354/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm%20

|url-status = live

}}

The Gothic historian Jordanes and 6th-century Byzantine authors named two groups that lived in the south-east of Europe: Sclavins (western Slavs) and Antes. Polianians are identified as the founders of the city of Kiev and as playing the key role in the formation of the Kievan Rus' state.{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CP%5CO%5CPolianians.htm |title=Polianians (poliany) |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211419/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CP%5CO%5CPolianians.htm |url-status=live }} At the beginning of the 9th century, Varangians used the waterways of Eastern Europe for military raids and trade, particularly the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. Until the 11th century these Varangians also served as key mercenary troops for a number of princes in medieval Kiev, as well as for some of the Byzantine emperors, while others occupied key administrative positions in Kievan Rus' society, and eventually became slavicized.{{cite web|author=Zhukovsky, Arkadii|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CV%5CA%5CVarangians.htm|title=Varangians|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|access-date=2 November 2012|quote=...Varangians assimilated rapidly with the local population.|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211425/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CV%5CA%5CVarangians.htm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Kyivan Rus' |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CY%5CKyivanRushDA.htm |access-date=2023-04-01 |year=1988 |website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com |quote=According to some sources, the first Varangian rulers of Rus' were Askold and Dyr. |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326031245/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CY%5CKyivanRushDA.htm |url-status=live }} Besides other cultural traces, several Ukrainian names show traces of Norse origins as a result of influences from that period.{{cite news|author=Ihor Lysyj|url=http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2005/280528.shtml|title=The Viking "drakkar" and the Kozak "chaika"|newspaper=The Ukrainian Weekly|location=Parsippany, New Jersey|date=10 July 2005|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211434/http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2005/280528.shtml|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|author=Andriy Pyrohiv|url=http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/wumag_old/archiv/2_98/lavra.htm|title=Vikings and the Lavra Monastery|publisher=Wumag.kiev.ua|year=1998|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=1 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901175358/http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/wumag_old/archiv/2_98/lavra.htm|url-status=live}}

Differentiation between separate East Slavic groups began to emerge in the later medieval period, and an East Slavic dialect continuum developed within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the Ruthenian language emerging as a written standard. The active development of a concept of a Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian language began with the Ukrainian National Revival in the early 19th century in times when Ruthenians (Русини) changed their name due to the region name. In the Soviet era (1917–1991), official historiography emphasized "the cultural unity of 'proto-Ukrainians' and 'proto-Russians' in the fifth and sixth centuries".{{cite book|author=Serhy Yekelchyk|author-link=Serhy Yekelchyk|title=Stalin's Empire of Memory: Russian-Ukrainian Relations in the Soviet Historical Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzSEEqjp9vUC&pg=PA94|access-date=19 March 2016|year=2004|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8808-6|page=94|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410144227/https://books.google.com/books?id=IzSEEqjp9vUC&pg=PA94|url-status=live}}

A poll conducted in April 2022 by "Rating" found that the vast majority (91%) of Ukrainians (excluding the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine) do not support the thesis that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people".{{cite web | url=https://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/vosmoy_obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_6_aprelya_2022.html | title=Восьме загальнонаціональне опитування: Україна в умовах війни (6 квітня 2022) |website=Ratinggroup.ua |date=6 April 2022}}

{{see also|Genetic history of Europe}}

File:Map of Early Neolithic migrations.jpg were the result of a genetic admixture between the Eastern European hunter-gatherers and Caucasus hunter-gatherers.]]

Ukrainians, like most Europeans, largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic Epigravettian culture;{{cite journal |author1=Posth, C. |author2=Yu, H. |author3=Ghalichi, A. |title=Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers |journal=Nature |date=2023 |volume=615 |issue=2 March 2023 |pages=117–126 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 |pmid=36859578 |pmc=9977688 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..117P }} Neolithic Early European Farmers who migrated from Anatolia during the Neolithic Revolution 9,000 years ago;{{cite journal |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Thousands of horsemen may have swept into Bronze Age Europe, transforming the local population |journal=Science |date=21 February 2017 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |access-date=25 March 2023 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925154535/https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |url-status=live }} and Yamnaya Steppe pastoralists who expanded into Europe from the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of Indo-European migrations 5,000 years ago.{{Cite journal|last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |date=11 June 2015 |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=Nature |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5048219 |pmid=25731166 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H |arxiv=1502.02783}}

In a survey of 97 genomes for diversity in full genome sequences among self-identified Ukrainians from Ukraine, a study identified more than 13 million genetic variants, representing about a quarter of the total genetic diversity discovered in Europe.{{cite journal |last1= Oleksyk |first1= Taras K |last2= Wolfsberger |first2= Walter W |last3= Weber |first3= Alexandra M |last4= Shchubelka |first4= Khrystyna |last5= Oleksyk |first5= Olga |last6= Levchuk |first6= Olga |last7= Patrus |first7= Alla |last8= Lazar |first8= Nelya |last9= Castro-Marquez |first9= Stephanie O |last10= Hasynets |first10= Yaroslava |last11= Boldyzhar |first11= Patricia |last12= Neymet |first12= Mikhailo |last13= Urbanovych |first13= Alina |last14= Stakhovska |first14= Viktoriya |last15= Malyar |first15= Kateryna |last16= Chervyakova |first16= Svitlana |last17= Podoroha |first17= Olena |last18= Kovalchuk |first18= Natalia |last19= Rodriguez-Flores |first19= Juan L |last20= Zhou |first20= Weichen |last21= Medley |first21= Sarah |last22= Battistuzzi |first22= Fabia |last23= Liu |first23= Ryan |last24= Hou |first24= Yong |last25= Chen |first25= Siru |last26= Yang |first26= Huanming |last27= Yeager |first27= Meredith |last28= Dean |first28= Michael |last29= Mills |first29= Ryan |last30= Smolanka |first30= Volodymyr |date= 2021 |title= Genome diversity in Ukraine |url= https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/10/1/giaa159/6079618 |journal= GigaScience |volume= 10 |issue= 1 |pages= |doi= 10.1093/gigascience/giaa159 |pmid= 33438729 |pmc= 7804371 |access-date= 17 January 2021 |doi-access= free |archive-date= 12 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220312102545/https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/10/1/giaa159/6079618 |url-status= live }} Among these nearly 500,000 are previously undocumented and likely to be unique for this population. Medically relevant mutations whose prevalence in the Ukrainian genomes differed significantly compared to other European genome sequences, particularly from Western Europe and Russia.{{Cite web |date=2021-01-13 |title=Large study provides new understanding of genome diversity in Ukrainian population |url=https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210113/Large-study-provides-new-understanding-genome-diversity-in-Ukrainian-population.aspx |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=News-Medical |language=en}} Ukrainian genomes form a single cluster positioned between the Northern on one side, and Western European populations on the other.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7804371/]File:Principal Component Analysis of European populations from the Genome Ukraine Project.png There was a significant overlap with Central European populations as well as with people from the Balkans. File:Structure plot of European populations from the Genome Ukraine Project.jpg In addition to the close geographic distance between these populations, this may also reflect the insufficient representation of samples from the surrounding populations.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The Ukrainian gene-pool includes the following Y-haplogroups, in order from the most prevalent:Kushniarevich A, Utevska O (2015) "Genetic Heritage of the Balto-Slavic Speaking Populations: A Synthesis of Autosomal, Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosomal Data"

• R1a (43%)
• I2a (23%)
• R1b (8%)
• E1b1b (7%)
• I1 (5%)
• N1 (5%)
• J2 (4%)
• G (3%)
• T (1%)

Roughly all R1a Ukrainians carry R1a-Z282; R1a-Z282 has been found significantly only in Eastern Europe.{{cite journal |format= PDF |last1= Di Luca | first1= F. | last2= Giacomo | first2= F. | last3= Benincasa | first3= T. | last4= Popa | first4= L.O. | last5= Banyko |first5= J. |last6= Kracmarova |first6= A. |last7= Malaspina |first7= P. |last8= Novelletto |first8= A. |last9= Brdicka |first9= R. |title= Y-chromosomal variation in the Czech Republic |journal= American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume= 132 |issue= 1 |year= 2006 |pages= 132–139 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6718583 | doi= 10.1002/ajpa.20500 |access-date= 16 March 2016 |pmid= 17078035 |hdl= 2108/35058 |hdl-access= free}} Chernivtsi Oblast is the only region in Ukraine where Haplogroup I2a occurs more frequently than R1a, much less frequent even in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.{{cite journal |last1= Utevska |first1= O. M. |last2= Chukhraeva |first2= M. I. |last3= Agdzhoyan |first3= A. T. |last4= Atramentova |first4= L. A. |last5= Balanovska |first5= E. V. |last6= Balanovsky |first6= O. P. |title= Populations of Transcarpathia and Bukovina on the genetic landscape of surrounding regions |journal= Visnyk of Dnipropetrovsk University. Biology, Medicine |date= 21 September 2015 |volume= 6 |issue= 2 |pages= 133–140 |doi= 10.15421/021524 |url= http://oaji.net/articles/2015/922-1450176147.pdf |doi-access= free |access-date= 22 October 2016 |archive-date= 24 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210224025357/http://oaji.net/articles/2015/922-1450176147.pdf |url-status= live }} In comparison to their northern and eastern neighbors, Ukrainians have a similar percentage of Haplogroup R1a-Z280 (43%) in their population—compare Belarusians, Russians, and Lithuanians and (55%, 46%, and 42% respectively). Populations in Eastern Europe which have never been Slavic do as well. Ukrainians in Chernivtsi Oblast (near the Romanian border) have a higher percentage of I2a as opposed to R1a, which is typical of the Balkan region, but a smaller percentage than Russians of the N1c1 lineage found among Finno-Ugric, Baltic, and Siberian populations, and also less R1b than West Slavs.{{cite journal | author1= Semino O. | author2= Passarino G. |author3= Oefner P.J. |author4= Lin A.A. |author5= Arbuzova S. |author6= Beckman L.E. |author7= De Benedictis G. |author8= Francalacci P. |author9= Kouvatsi A. |author10= Limborska S. |author11= Marcikiae M. |author12= Mika A. |author13= Mika B. |author14= Primorac D. |author15= Santachiara-Benerecetti A.S. |author16= Cavalli-Sforza L.L. |author17= Underhill P.A. |title= The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic Homo sapiens sapiens in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome Perspective |journal= Science | volume= 290 | issue= 5494 | year= 2000 | pages= 1155–1159 |doi= 10.1126/science.290.5494.1155 |pmid= 11073453| bibcode= 2000Sci...290.1155S }}Alexander Varzari, "Population History of the Dniester-Carpathians: Evidence from Alu Insertion and Y-Chromosome Polymorphisms" (2006)

Marijana Peričić et al. 2005, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110624174942/http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/10/1964.full High-Resolution Phylogenetic Analysis of Southeastern Europe Traces Major Episodes of Paternal Gene Flow Among Slavic Populations.]

In terms of haplogroup distribution, the genetic pattern of Ukrainians most closely resembles that of Belarusians. The presence of the N1c lineage is explained by a contribution of the assimilated Finno-Ugric tribes.

{{cite journal

| title= Gene Pool Structure of Eastern Ukrainians as Inferred from the Y-Chromosome Haplogroups

| journal= Russian Journal of Genetics | volume= 40 | issue= 3

| pages= 326–331 | date= 1 March 2004

| doi= 10.1023/B:RUGE.0000021635.80528.2f

| last1 = Kharkov |first1 = V. N. |last2= Stepanov | first2= V. A. | last3= Borinskaya | first3= S. A. | last4= Kozhekbaeva | first4= Zh. M. | last5= Gusar | first5= V. A. | last6= Grechanina |first6= E. Ya. |last7= Puzyrev |first7= V. P. |last8= Khusnutdinova |first8= E. K. |last9= Yankovsky | first9= N. K. | s2cid= 25907265

}}

{{see also|Category:Ethnic groups in Ukraine}}

File:Huculi 1902.png, living in the Carpathian mountains, 1902]]

Within Ukraine and adjacent areas, there are several other distinct ethnic sub-groups, especially in western Ukraine: places like Zakarpattia and Halychyna. Among them the most known are Hutsuls,{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsuls.htm |title=A Ukrainian ethnic group which until 1946 lived in the most western part of Ukraine – Hutsuls |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |date=1919-01-07 |access-date=2012-11-02 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211502/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsuls.htm |url-status=live }} Volhynians, Boykos and Lemkos (otherwise known as Carpatho-Rusyns – a derivative of Carpathian Ruthenians),{{Dubious|date=January 2025|reason=Aren't Lemkos a separate group from Rusyns? Or at the very least a subgroup of them? Certainly not synonymous.}} each with particular areas of settlement, dialect, dress, and folk traditions.{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CL%5CE%5CLemkos.htm |title=A Ukrainian ethnic group which until 1946 lived in the most western part of Ukraine – Lemkos |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |date=16 August 1945 |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211509/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CL%5CE%5CLemkos.htm |url-status=live }}

{{further|History of Ukraine}}

Ukraine has had a very turbulent history, a fact explained by its geographical position. In the 9th century the Varangians from Scandinavia conquered the proto-Slavic tribes on the territory of today's Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia and laid the groundwork for the Kievan Rus' state. The ancestors of the Ukrainian nation such as Polianians had an important role in the development and culturalization of Kievan Rus' state. The internecine wars between Rus' princes, which began after the death of Yaroslav the Wise,{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CY%5CA%5CYaroslavtheWise.htm |title=Grand prince of Kyiv from 1019; son of Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great and Princess Rohnida of Polatsk |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211513/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CY%5CA%5CYaroslavtheWise.htm |url-status=live }} led to the political fragmentation of the state into a number of principalities. The quarreling between the princes left Kievan Rus' vulnerable to foreign attacks, and the invasion of the Mongols in 1236. and 1240. finally destroyed the state. Another important state in the history of the Ukrainians is the Kingdom of Ruthenia (1199–1349).{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CK%5CY%5CKyivanRushDA.htm |title=The first state to arise among the Eastern Slavs |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211518/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CK%5CY%5CKyivanRushDA.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CG%5CA%5CGalicia6VolhyniaPrincipalityof.htm |title=A state founded in 1199 by Roman Mstyslavych, the prince of Volhynia from 1170, who united Galicia and Volhynia under his rule |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185446/http://encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?addbutton=pages%5Cg%5Ca%5Cgalicia6volhyniaprincipalityof.htm |url-status=live }}

The third important state for Ukrainians is the Cossack Hetmanate. The Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia since the late 15th century controlled the lower bends of the river Dnieper, between Russia, Poland and the Tatars of Crimea, with the fortified capital, Zaporozhian Sich. Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky is one of the most celebrated and at the same time most controversial political figures in Ukraine's early-modern history. A brilliant military leader, his greatest achievement in the process of national revolution was the formation of the Cossack Hetmanate state of the Zaporozhian Host (1648–1782). The period of the Ruin in the late 17th century in the history of Ukraine is characterized by the disintegration of Ukrainian statehood and general decline. During the Ruin Ukraine became divided along the Dnieper River into Left-Bank Ukraine and Right-Bank Ukraine, and the two-halves became hostile to each other. Ukrainian leaders during the period are considered to have been largely opportunists and men of little vision who could not muster broad popular support for their policies.{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CR%5CU%5CRuin.htm |title=The disintegration of Ukrainian statehood and general decline – Ruina |publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com |access-date=2 November 2012 |archive-date=16 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116035648/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CR%5CU%5CRuin.htm |url-status=live }} There were roughly 4 million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century.Ukraine, Orest Subtelny, page 152, 2000

At the final stages of the First World War, a powerful struggle for an independent Ukrainian state developed in the central Ukrainian territories, which, until 1917, were part of the Russian Empire. The newly established Ukrainian government, the Central Rada, headed by Mykhailo Hrushevsky, issued four universals, the Fourth of which, dated 22 January 1918, declared the independence and sovereignty of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) on 25 January 1918. The session of the Central Rada on 29 April 1918 ratified the Constitution of the UNR and elected Hrushevsky president.

{{see also|Executed Renaissance|Ukrainization#Early 1930s (reversal of Ukrainization policies)}}

File:Famine Kharkov girl and goat 1933.jpg during the Holodomor]]During the 1920s, under the Ukrainisation policy pursued by the national Communist leadership of Mykola Skrypnyk, Soviet leadership encouraged a national renaissance in the Ukrainian culture and language. Ukrainisation was part of the Soviet-wide policy of Korenisation (literally indigenisation).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

During 1932–1933, millions of Ukrainians were starved to death by the Soviet regime which led to a famine, known as the Holodomor."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7111296.stm Ukraine remembers famine horror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731094354/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7111296.stm |date=31 July 2012 }}". BBC News. 24 November 2007. The Soviet regime remained silent about the Holodomor and provided no aid to the victims or the survivors. But news and information about what was going on reached the West and evoked public responses in Polish-ruled Western Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora. Since the 1990s the independent Ukrainian state, particularly under President Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian mass media and academic institutions, many foreign governments, most Ukrainian scholars, and many foreign scholars have viewed and written about the Holodomor as genocide and issued official declarations and publications to that effect. Modern scholarly estimates of the direct loss of human life due to the famine range between 2.6 millionFrance Meslè et Jacques Vallin avec des contributions de Vladimir Shkolnikov, Serhii Pyrozhkov et Serguei Adamets, [http://www.ined.fr/en/publications/cahiers/mortalite-et-causes-de-deces-en-ukraine-au-xxe-siecle-cd-rom-en/ Mortalite et cause de dècès en Ukraine au XX siècle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613015349/https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/cahiers/mortalite-et-causes-de-deces-en-ukraine-au-xxe-siecle-cd-rom-en/ |date=13 June 2018 }} p.28, see also France Meslé, Gilles Pison, Jacques Vallin [http://www.ined.fr/en/publications/population-and-societies/france-ukraine-demographic-twins-separated-by-history-en/ France-Ukraine: Demographic Twins Separated by History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917220447/https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/population-and-societies/france-ukraine-demographic-twins-separated-by-history-en/ |date=17 September 2018 }}, Population and societies, N°413, juin 2005Jacques Vallin, France Mesle, Serguei Adamets, Serhii Pyrozhkov, [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00324720215934 A New Estimate of Ukrainian Population Losses during the Crises of the 1930s and 1940s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323205135/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00324720215934 |date=23 March 2022 }}, Population Studies, Vol. 56, No. 3. (November 2002), pp. 249–264 (3–3.5 million){{cite journal|first=Stanislav |last=Kulchytsky |url=http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com:80/nn/show/420/36833 |script-title=ru:Сколько нас погибло от Голодомора 1933 года? |trans-title=How many of us died from Holodomor in 1933? |language=ru |journal=Zerkalo Nedeli |date=23–29 November 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128150638/http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/420/36833 |archive-date=28 November 2006 }}
{{cite journal|first=Stanislav |last=Kulchytsky |url=http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/420/36833/ |script-title=uk:Скільки нас загинуло під Голодомору 1933 року? |trans-title=How many of us died during the Holodomor 1933? |language=uk |journal=Zerkalo Nedeli |date=23–29 November 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030201130718/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/420/36833/ |archive-date=1 February 2003 }} and 12 millionRosefielde, Steven. "Excess Mortality in the Soviet Union: A Reconsideration of the Demographic Consequences of Forced Industrialization, 1929–1949." Soviet Studies 35 (July 1983): 385–409 although much higher numbers are usually published in the media and cited in political debates.Peter Finn, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new Aftermath of a Soviet Famine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021072458/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new |date=21 October 2014 }}, The Washington Post, 27 April 2008, "There are no exact figures on how many died. Modern historians place the number between 2.5 million and 3.5 million. Yushchenko and others have said at least 10 million were killed." As of March 2008, the parliament of Ukraine and the governments of several countries, including the United States have recognized the Holodomor as an act of genocide.{{efn|Sources differ on interpreting various statements from different branches of different governments as to whether they amount to the official recognition of the Famine as Genocide by the country. For example, after the statement issued by the Latvian Sejm on 13 March 2008, the total number of countries is given as 19 (according to Ukrainian BBC: [http://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/domestic/story/2008/03/080313_latvia_holodomor_oh.shtml "Латвія визнала Голодомор ґеноцидом"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150819141112/http://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/domestic/story/2008/03/080313_latvia_holodomor_oh.shtml |date=19 August 2015 }}), 16 (according to Korrespondent, Russian edition: [http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/403002-posle-prodolzhitelnyh-debatov-sejm-latvii-priznal-golodomor-genocidom-ukraincev "После продолжительных дебатов Сейм Латвии признал Голодомор геноцидом украинцев"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806162817/http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/403002-posle-prodolzhitelnyh-debatov-sejm-latvii-priznal-golodomor-genocidom-ukraincev |date=6 August 2012 }}), "more than 10" (according to Korrespondent, Ukrainian edition: [http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/403002-posle-prodolzhitelnyh-debatov-sejm-latvii-priznal-golodomor-genocidom-ukraincev "Латвія визнала Голодомор 1932–33 рр. геноцидом українців"] )}}

Following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian population became part of Soviet Ukraine. When the German armies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, those regions temporarily became part of the Nazi-controlled Reichskommissariat Ukraine. In total, the number of ethnic Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million to 7 million. The pro-Soviet partisan guerrilla resistance in Ukraine is estimated to number at 47,800 from the start of occupation to 500,000 at its peak in 1944, with about 50% being ethnic Ukrainians. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troop losses, 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1943, under the command of Roman Shukhevych, UPA began the ethnic cleansing. Shukhevych was one of the perpetrators of the Galicia-Volhynia massacres of tens of thousands of Polish civilians. It is unclear to what extent Shuchevych was responsible for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia, but he certainly condoned them after some time, and also directed the massacres of Poles in Eastern Galicia. Historian Per Anders Rudling has accused the Ukrainian diaspora and Ukrainian academics of "ignoring, glossing over, or outright denying" his role in this and other war crimes.

The Ukrainian state has occupied a number of territories since its initial foundation. Most of these territories have been located within Eastern Europe, however, as depicted in the maps in the gallery below, has also at times extended well into Eurasia and South-Eastern Europe. At times there has also been a distinct lack of a Ukrainian state, as its territories were on a number of occasions, annexed by its more powerful neighbours.

File:Cossack Mamay 1728.jpg, one of several national personifications of Ukrainians.]]

The watershed period in the development of modern Ukrainian national consciousness was the struggle for independence during the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1921.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainianNationalRepublic.htm|title=Ukrainian National Republic|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|year=1993|access-date=15 March 2016|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211233234/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainianNationalRepublic.htm|url-status=live}} A concerted effort to reverse the growth of Ukrainian national consciousness was begun by the regime of Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s, and continued with minor interruptions until the most recent times. The man-made Famine of 1932–33, the deportations of the so-called kulaks, the physical annihilation of the nationally conscious intelligentsia, and terror in general were used to destroy and subdue the Ukrainian nation.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CF%5CA%5CFamine6Genocideof1932hD73.htm|title=Famine-Genocide of 1932–3 (Голодомор; Holodomor)|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|date=7 August 1932|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=16 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116034619/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CF%5CA%5CFamine6Genocideof1932hD73.htm|url-status=live}} Even after Joseph Stalin's death the concept of a Russified though multiethnic Soviet people was officially promoted, according to which the non-Russian nations were relegated to second-class status{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}. Despite this, many Ukrainians played prominent roles in the Soviet Union, including such public figures as Semen Tymoshenko.

The creation of a sovereign and independent Ukraine in 1991, however, pointed to the failure of the policy of the "merging of nations" and to the enduring strength of the Ukrainian national consciousness. Today, one of the consequences of these acts is Ukrainophobia.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm|title=Development of modern Ukrainian national consciousness|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|date=16 July 1990|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=7 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107090354/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm%20|url-status=live}}

Biculturalism is especially present in southeastern Ukraine where there is a significant Russian minority. Historical colonization of Ukraine is one reason that creates confusion about national identity to this day.{{cite web|author1=Олександр Lytvynenko, Oleksandr|author2=Yakymenko, Yuriy|url=http://www.razumkov.org.ua/eng/article.php?news_id=676|title=Russian-Speaking Citizens of Ukraine: "Imaginary Society" as it is|publisher=Razumkov Centre|date=19 May 2008|access-date=15 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319164800/http://www.razumkov.org.ua/eng/article.php?news_id=676|archive-date=19 March 2016|url-status=dead}} Many citizens of Ukraine have adopted the Ukrainian national identity in the past 20 years. According to the concept of nationality dominant in Eastern Europe the Ukrainians are people whose native language is Ukrainian (an objective criterion) whether or not they are nationally conscious, and all those who identify themselves as Ukrainian (a subjective criterion) whether or not they speak Ukrainian.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm|title=Viewed from a historical perspective, Ukrainians are people whose native language is Ukrainian|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|date=16 July 1990|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=7 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107090354/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm%20|url-status=live}}

Attempts to introduce a territorial-political concept of Ukrainian nationality on the Western European model (presented by political philosopher Vyacheslav Lypynsky) were unsuccessful until the 1990s. Territorial loyalty has also been manifested by the historical national minorities living in Ukraine. The official declaration of Ukrainian sovereignty of 16 July 1990 stated that "citizens of the Republic of all nationalities constitute the people of Ukraine."{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm|title=Ukrainian nationality on the Western European model (e.g., by Vyacheslav Lypynsky) were unsuccessful until the 1990s|publisher=Encyclopediaofukraine.com|date=16 July 1990|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=7 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107090354/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm%20|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3763/is_200903/ai_n32127896/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623040446/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3763/is_200903/ai_n32127896/|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 June 2011|title=Ethnic Self-Identification in Ukraine.|via=Find Articles|access-date=2 November 2012}}

{{Main|Culture of Ukraine}}

Due to Ukraine's geographical location, its culture primarily exhibits Eastern European influence as well as Central European to an extent (primarily in the western region). Over the years it has been influenced by movements such as those brought about during the Byzantine Empire and the Renaissance. Today, the country is somewhat culturally divided with the western regions bearing a stronger Central European influence and the eastern regions showing a significant Russian influence. A strong Christian culture was predominant for many centuries, although Ukraine was also the center of conflict between the Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic spheres of influence.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

{{Main|Ukrainian language}}

{{see also|Ivan Kotliarevsky|Russification of Ukraine|Surzhyk}}

File:Ukraine census 2001 Ukrainian.svg

Ukrainian ({{lang|uk|украї́нська мо́ва}}, ukraі́nska móva) is the sole official language in Ukraine. It belongs to the East Slavic branch of the Slavic languages. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, one of many based on the Cyrillic alphabet.{{cite journal|last=Paulsen|first=Martin|title=Digital Determinism: the Cyrillic Alphabet in the Age of New Technology|volume=61|publisher=American Councils for International Education|pages=119–141|year=2011|journal=Russian Language Journal / Русский язык|jstor=43669201}} The language is a lineal descendant of the colloquial Old East Slavic language of the medieval state of Kievan Rus', which first split into Ruthenian and Russian.{{cite journal|last=Pugh|first=Stefan A.|title=The Ruthenian Language of Meletij Smotryc'kyj: Phonology|volume=9|number=1/2|date=June 1985|pages=53–60|publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute|journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies|jstor=41036132}}{{rp|2–3}} The Ruthenian languages then evolved into modern-day Ukrainian, Belarusian and Rusyn.{{rp|53–60}} In modern-day Ukraine, most of its population are also fluent in Russian and many use it as their native tongue.

Comparisons are often made between Ukrainian and Russian. Yet, there is more mutual intelligibility with Belarusian,{{cite journal|last=Sériot|first=Patrick|title=Language Policy as a Political Linguistics: The Implicit Model of Linguistics in the Discussion of the Norms of Ukrainian and Belarusian in the 1930s|publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute|journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies|volume=35|number=1/4|year=2017–2018|pages=169–185|jstor=44983540}} and a very close lexical distance between the two.{{cite web|last=Kornienko|first=Anna|url=https://bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/bitstream/handle/1956/23074/My-thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Masked lexical priming between close and distant languages|publisher=University of Bergen|date=12 June 2020|access-date=8 June 2024}}{{rp|13}} Historically, state-inforced Russification saw the Ukrainian language banned as a subject from schools and as a language of instruction in the Russian Empire.{{cite journal|last=Pavlenko|first=Aneta|title=Linguistic russification in the Russian Empire: peasants into Russians? / Языковая руссификация в Российской империи: стали ли крестьяне русскими?|publisher=Springer Nature|journal=Russian Linguistics|volume=35|number=3|year=2011|pages=331–350|doi=10.1007/s11185-011-9078-7 |jstor=41486701}} The oppression continued in various ways while Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union.{{cite journal|last1=Shapoval|first1=Yuri|last2=Olynyk|first2=Marta D.|title=The Ukrainian Language under Totalitarianism and Total War|publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute|journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies|volume=35|number=1/4|year=2017–2018|pages=187–212|jstor=44983541}} However, the language continued to be used throughout the country, especially in the western part.{{cite journal|last=Pavlenko|first=Aneta|title=West Ukraine and West Belorussia: Historical Tradition, Social Communication, and Linguistic Assimilation|publisher=Taylor & Francis|journal=Soviet Studies|volume=31|number=1|date=January 1979|pages=76–98|doi=10.1080/09668137908411225 |jstor=150187}}

{{Main|Religion in Ukraine}}

File:80-391-0151 Kyiv St.Sophia's Cathedral RB 18 2 (cropped).jpg.]]

Ukraine was inhabited by pagan tribes until Byzantine rite Christianity was introduced by the turn of the first millennium. It was imagined by later writers who sought to put Kievan Rus' Christianity on the same level of primacy as Byzantine Christianity that Apostle Andrew himself had visited the site where the city of Kiev would be later built.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

However, it was only by the 10th century that the emerging state, the Kievan Rus', became influenced by the Byzantine Empire; the first known conversion was by the Princess Saint Olga who came to Constantinople in 945 or 957. Several years later, her grandson, Prince Vladimir baptised his people in the Dnieper River. This began a long history of the dominance of the Eastern Orthodoxy in Ruthenia (Ukraine).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Ukrainians are majority Eastern Orthodox Christians, and they form the second largest ethno-linguistic group among Eastern Orthodox in the world.{{cite web|title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|date=10 May 2017|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510190714/http://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|date=10 November 2017|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125010533/https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/|url-status=live}} Ukrainians have their own autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine headed by Metropolitan Epiphanius, where it is the most common church and in the small areas of Ukraine the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who were under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate is the smaller common. The Russian invasion of Ukraine impacted the religious identity of some Ukrainians.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

File:Львівський Собор Святого Юра.jpg]]

In the Western region known as Halychyna, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, one of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches has a strong membership. Since the fall of the Soviet Union there has been a growth of Protestant churches (Baptists, Evangelism, Pentecostalism){{efn|For more information, see History of Christianity in Ukraine and Religion in Ukraine.}}Adrian Ivakhiv. [http://www.uvm.edu/~aivakhiv/Insearch.pdf In Search of Deeper Identities: Neopaganism and Native Faith in Contemporary Ukraine]. Nova Religio, 2005. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814193521/http://www.uvm.edu/~aivakhiv/Insearch.pdf |date=14 August 2021 }} There are also ethnic minorities that practice other religions, i.e. Crimean Tatars (Islam), and Jews and Karaim (Judaism).

Also, some Ukrainians are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses.

A 2020 survey conducted by the Razumkov Centre found that majority of Ukrainian populations was adhering to Christianity (81.9%). Of these Christians, 75.4% are Eastern Orthodox (34% of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and 13.8% of the Moscow Patriarchate, and 27.6% are simply Orthodox), 8.2% are Greek Catholics, 7.1% are simply Christians, a further 1.9% are Protestants and 0.4% are Latin Catholics.{{Cite web|url=https://razumkov.org.ua/napriamky/sotsiologichni-doslidzhennia/konfesiina-ta-tserkovna-nalezhnist-gromadian-ukrainy-sichen-2020r|title=Конфесійна та церковна належність громадян України (січень 2020р. соціологія)|first=Разумков|last=Центр|website=razumkov.org.ua|access-date=25 May 2021|archive-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731061208/https://razumkov.org.ua/napriamky/sotsiologichni-doslidzhennia/konfesiina-ta-tserkovna-nalezhnist-gromadian-ukrainy-sichen-2020r|url-status=live}} As of 2016, 16.3% of the population does not claim a religious affiliation, and 1.7% adheres to other religions.{{citation|date=26 May 2016|url=http://old.razumkov.org.ua/upload/Religiya_200516_A4.compressed.pdf|pages=22, 27, 29, 31|trans-title=Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422181327/http://old.razumkov.org.ua/upload/Religiya_200516_A4.compressed.pdf|place=Kyiv|publisher=Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches|language=uk|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-date=22 April 2017|script-title=uk:Релігія, Церква, суспільство і держава: два роки після Майдану|url-status=dead}} According to the same survey, 70% of the population of Ukraine declared to be believers, but do not belong to any church. 8.8% do not identify themselves with any of the denominations, and another 5.6% identified themselves as non-believers.

{{Main|Ukrainian cuisine}}

File:Borscht served.jpg with smetana (sour cream)]]

Ukrainian cuisine has been formed by the nation's tumultuous history, geography, culture and social customs. Chicken is the most consumed type of protein, accounting for about half of the meat intake. It is followed by pork and beef.{{cite web|last1=Yarmak|first1=Andriy|last2=Svyatkivska|first2=Elizaveta|last3=Prikhodko|first3=Dmitry|title=Ukraine: Meat sector review|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)|url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/7eaedc0c-e890-48c5-b4b3-32e0ae40c6be/content|access-date=9 June 2024}}{{rp|12}} Vegetables such as potatoes, cabbages, mushrooms and beetroots are widely consumed.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20110303-ukraines-culinary-delights|title=Ukraine's culinary heights|work=BBC News|last=Kaminski|first=Anna|date=10 March 2011|access-date=9 June 2024}} Pickled vegetables are considered a delicacy.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/06/quick-fermented-cucumbers-gherkins-olia-hercules-kitchen-in-ukraine|last=Hercules|first=Olia|title=A 'nuclear' pickle recipe from Ukraine|work=The Guardian|date=6 September 2016|access-date=9 June 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/nizhyn-pickles-/7495186.html|title=Nizhyn Pickles|work=Voice of America (VOA)|date=28 February 2024|access-date=9 June 2024|last=Shylova|first=Liudmyla}} Salo, which is cured pork fat, is considered the national delicacy.{{cite journal|last= Kollegaeva|first=Katrina|title=Salo, the Ukrainian Pork Fat|journal=Gastronomica|volume=17|number=4|year=2017|publisher=University of California Press|pages=102–110|doi=10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.102 |jstor=26362486}} Widely used herbs include dill, parsley, basil, coriander and chives.

Ukraine is often called the "Breadbasket of Europe", and its plentiful grain and cereal resources such as rye and wheat play an important part in its cuisine; essential in making various kinds of bread.{{cite web|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230224-five-comfort-foods-to-celebrate-ukraine|title=Five comfort foods that define Ukraine|last=Banas|first=Anne|date=24 February 2023|access-date=9 June 2024}}{{cite news|last=Wroe|first=Ann|date=14 April 2022|access-date=9 June 2024|newspaper=The Economist|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/04/14/bread-in-ukraine-why-a-loaf-means-life|title=Bread in Ukraine: why a loaf means life}} Chernozem, the country's black-colored highly fertile soil, produces some of the world's most flavorful crops.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/03/05/ukraine-has-a-glorious-cuisine-that-is-all-its-own|title=Ukraine has a glorious cuisine that is all its own|newspaper=The Economist|url-access=subscription|date=5 March 2022|access-date=9 June 2024}}

Popular traditional dishes {{lang|uk-Latn|varenyky}} (dumpling), nalysnyky (crêpe), kapusnyak (cabbage soup), nudli (dumpling stew), borscht (sour soup) and {{lang|uk-Latn|holubtsi}} (cabbage roll). Among traditional baked goods are decorated korovai and paska (easter bread).{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/13/kulich-paska-ukrainian-easter-bread-recipe-olia-hercules-easter-bakes|last=Hercules|first=Olia|title=Alternatives to Good Friday bakes: a recipe for Ukrainian Easter bread|work=The Guardian|date=13 April 2017|access-date=9 June 2024}} Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kyiv cake. Popular drinks include uzvar (kompot),{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/04/hazelnut-cake-recipe-olia-hercules-cook-residency|last=Hercules|first=Olia|title=Fermented herbs, a lavish hazelnut cake recipe and a Ukrainian spin on meatball soup|work=The Guardian|date=4 June 2015|access-date=11 June 2024}} ryazhanka,{{cite journal|last1=Aidarbekova|first1=Sabina|last2=Aider|first2=Mohammad|journal=Food Bioscience|publisher=Elsevier|date=April 2022|volume=46|number=101526|doi=10.1016/j.fbio.2021.101526|title=Production of Ryazhenka, a traditional Ukrainian fermented baked milk, by using electro-activated whey as supplementing ingredient and source of lactulose|issn=2212-4292}} and {{lang|uk-Latn|horilka}}.{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4373623-christmas-in-ukraine/|last=Drennan|first=Patrick|title=Christmas in Ukraine|date=22 December 2023|access-date=11 June 2024|newspaper=The Hill}} Liquor (spirits) are the most consumed type of alcoholic beverage.{{cite journal|last1=Samokhvalov|first1=Andriy V.|last2=Pidkorytov|first2=Valerii S.|last3=Linskiy|first3=Igor V.|last4=Minko|first4=Oleksandr I.|last5=Minko|first5=Oleksii O.|last6=Rehm|first6=Jürgen|last7=Popova|first7=Svetlana|title=Alcohol use and addiction services in Ukraine|date=1 January 2009|pages=5–7|volume=6|number=1|pmid=31507969|journal=International Psychiatry|doi=10.1192/S1749367600000205 |pmc=6734863 }} Alcohol consumption has seen a stark decrease, though by per capita, it remains among the highest the world.{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/22-03-2024-ukrainians-are-drinking-less-alcohol-and-support-stronger-regulations--new-survey-finds|title=Ukrainians are drinking less alcohol and support stronger regulations, new survey finds|publisher=World Health Organization (WHO)|date=22 March 2024|access-date=11 June 2024|quote=Ukraine has seen a fall in alcohol consumption of almost 25% over the last decade.}}

File:Театр оперы и балета. Зал.jpg]]

{{Main|Music of Ukraine}}

Ukrainian music incorporates a diversity of external cultural influences. It also has a very strong indigenous Slavic and Christian uniqueness whose elements were used among many neighboring nations.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/alphasearch.asp?q=music|title=Ukrainian Music Elements|work=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies|year=2001|access-date=19 November 2012|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101211707/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/alphasearch.asp?q=music|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/Culture.asp#Topic_3|title=Ukrainian Wandering Bards: Kobzars, Bandurysts, and Lirnyks|publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies|year=2001|access-date=15 March 2016|quote=The artistic tradition of Ukrainian wandering bards, the kobzars (kobza players), bandurysts (bandura players), and lirnyks (lira players) is one of the most distinctive elements of Ukraine's cultural heritage.|archive-date=17 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917160307/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/Culture.asp#Topic_3|url-status=live}}

Ukrainian folk oral literature, poetry, and songs (such as the dumas) are among the most distinctive ethnocultural features of Ukrainians as a people. Religious music existed in Ukraine before the official adoption of Christianity, in the form of plainsong "obychnyi spiv" or "musica practica". Traditional Ukrainian music is easily recognized by its somewhat melancholy tone. It first became known outside of Ukraine during the 15th century as musicians from Ukraine would perform before the royal courts in Poland (latter in Russia).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

A large number of famous musicians around the world was educated or born in Ukraine, among them are famous names like Dmitry Bortniansky, Sergei Prokofiev, Myroslav Skoryk, etc. Ukraine is also the rarely acknowledged musical heartland of the former Russian Empire, home to its first professional music academy, which opened in the mid-18th century and produced numerous early musicians and composers.{{cite web|url=http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/ukraine/en_US|title=Ukraine is the rarely acknowledged musical heartland of the former Russian Empire|work=National Geographic Society|year=2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515005555/http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/ukraine/en_US|archive-date=15 May 2011}}

{{Main|Ukrainian dance}}

File:Hopak at Rapid Trident 2014.jpg.]]

Ukrainian dance refers to the traditional folk dances of the peoples of Ukraine. Today, Ukrainian dance is primarily represented by what ethnographers, folklorists and dance historians refer to as "Ukrainian Folk-Stage Dances", which are stylized representations of traditional dances and their characteristic movements that have been choreographed for concert dance performances. This stylized art form has so permeated the culture of Ukraine, that very few purely traditional forms of Ukrainian dance remain today.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Ukrainian dance is often described as energetic, fast-paced, and entertaining, and along with traditional Easter eggs (pysanky), it is a characteristic example of Ukrainian culture recognized and appreciated throughout the world.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

{{Main|Flag of Ukraine|Coat of arms of Ukraine}}

File:Lesser Coat of Arms of Ukraine.svg|Coat of arms of Ukraine

File:Flag of Ukraine.svg|Flag of Ukraine

Ukraine's national symbols include its flag and its coat of arms.

The national flag of Ukraine is a blue and yellow bicolour rectangle. The colour fields are of same form and equal size. The colours of the flag represent a blue sky above yellow fields of wheat.{{cite web|url=http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en/publish/article%3Fart_id%3D235970%26cat_id%3D32672|title=Government portal- State symbols of Ukraine|publisher=Kmu.gov.ua|date=24 October 2012|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=9 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009182405/http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en/publish/article%3Fart_id%3D235970%26cat_id%3D32672|url-status=live}}{{cite encyclopedia|author=Whitney Smith|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Ukraine#949947.hook|title=Flag of Ukraine|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=15 March 2016|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407224036/https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Ukraine#949947.hook|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/up-flag.html|title=Flag of Ukraine|work=The World Factbook|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613014250/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/up-flag.html|archive-date=13 June 2007}} The flag was designed for the convention of the Supreme Ruthenian Council, meeting in Lviv in October 1848. Its colours were based on the coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Ruthenia.{{cite web|author=Weeks, Andrew|url=http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/FLAGS/ua-flhis.html#ori|title=Ukraine – History of the Flag|publisher=Crwflags.com|date=29 December 2012|access-date=15 March 2016|archive-date=20 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920000602/https://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/FLAGS/ua-flhis.html#ori|url-status=live}}

The Coat of arms of Ukraine features the same colours found on the Ukrainian flag: a blue shield with yellow trident—the symbol of ancient East Slavic tribes that once lived in Ukraine, later adopted by Ruthenian and Kievan Rus rulers.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

{{See also|Bibliography of Ukrainian history|List of Slavic studies journals}}

{{empty section|date=February 2024}}

{{Portal|Ukraine}}

• Demographics of Ukraine
• List of Ukrainians
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• Ukrainian dialects

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• Galician–Volhynian Chronicle ({{circa}} 1292)
• {{cite book| first=George A. |last=Perfecky |title=The Hypatian Codex Part Two: The Galician–Volynian Chronicle. An annotated translation by George A. Perfecky |location=Munich |publisher=Wilhelm Fink Verlag |year=1973 |oclc=902306}}
• {{Cite book |last=Makhnovets |first=Leonid |authorlink=Leonid Makhnovets |title=Літопис Руський за Іпатським списком |trans-title=Rus' Chronicle according to the Hypatian Codex |url=http://litopys.org.ua/litop/lit.htm |pages=591 |location=Kyiv |publisher=Dnipro |date=1989 |access-date=18 July 2024 |isbn=5-308-00052-2 |language=uk}} — A modern annotated Ukrainian translation of the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle based on the Hypatian Codex with comments from the Khlebnikov Codex.

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Magocsi|first=Paul R.|author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi|title=A History of Ukraine|year=1996|publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|isbn=978-0-300-09309-4}}
• {{cite book |last=Wilson|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Wilson (historian)|title=The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation|year=2002|edition=2nd|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-300-09309-4}}

{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin}}

• Vasyl Balushok, "How Rusyns Became Ukrainians", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), July 2005. Available [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125025057/http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/ie/show/555/50610/ in Russian] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051112171542/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/555/50610/ in Ukrainian].
• Vasyl Balushok, "When was the Ukrainian nation born?", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), 23 April – 6 May 2005. Available [https://web.archive.org/web/20050426004858/http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/543/49862/ in Russian] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051104020412/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/543/49862/ in Ukrainian].
• Dmytro Kyianskyi, "We are more "Russian" then they are: history without myths and sensationalism", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), 27 January – 2 February 2001. Available [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125043717/http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/328/29376/ in Russian] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051106071949/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/328/29376/ in Ukrainian].
• Oleg Chirkov, "External migration – the main reason for the presence of a non-Ukrainian ethnic population in contemporary Ukraine". Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), 26 January – 1 February 2002. Available [https://web.archive.org/web/20051201052452/http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/378/33582/ in Russian] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051105214750/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/378/33582/ in Ukrainian].
• Halyna Lozko, "Ukrainian ethnology. Ethnographic division of Ukraine" Available [http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/r_mowa/strony_ukr02/etnografia/et01.htm in Ukrainian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407191016/http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/r_mowa/strony_ukr02/etnografia/et01.htm |date=7 April 2022 }}.

{{Refend}}

{{Commons category|Ukrainians}}

• [http://www.ukrainianworldcongress.org/ Ukrainian World Congress.]
• [http://www.ukrainiandiaspora.ca/ Ukrainian diaspora in Canada and the U.S.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209124848/http://www.ukrainiandiaspora.ca/ |date=9 December 2014 }}
• [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm Ukrainians] at Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• [http://www.gutenberg-e.org/osc01/images/osc05a.html Races of Europe 1942–1943]
• [http://www.anesi.com/rmap2.jpg Hammond's Racial map of Europe, 1919] "National Alumni" 1920, vol.7
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030105195047/http://coletta.de/kolonien/Die%20Voelker%20Europas%201914%20xxl.jpg Peoples of Europe / Die Voelker Europas 1914] {{in lang|de}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080303112904/http://cla.calpoly.edu/~mriedlsp/History315/Maps/map2.html Ethno-Linguistic Map of Europe Before 1914]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160404043154/https://www2.bc.edu/~heineman/maps/ethnic.jpg Linguistic Divisions of Europe in 1914] {{in lang|de}}
• [https://www.bestkievguide.com/illuminating-ukrainian-anthropology-typical-physical-traits-of-ukrainians/ Illuminating Ukrainian Anthropology: Typical Physical Traits of Ukrainians] (in English) June, 2023

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