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Did Ukraine Always Belong to Russia?
On Putin’s Horrible Understanding of Ukrainian History
Every year, Putin amasses a public display of military strength on May 9th in front of the Kremlin to commemorate the end of World War II, or as they call it in Russia, “The Great Patriotic War.”
This year things are a little different. With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, we should expect some heroic speech from Putin.
With how horribly it has gone, we will probably see some vague argument on how Russians must continue their onslaught into Ukraine to “save” it. He may continue with his repeated claim that Ukraine was built by Russia and that there is no reason it should be sovereign. Both of these claims are broadly disputed by historians and political scientists alike. But that does not prevent Putin from endlessly spewing them. In advance, I thought I’d briefly dispute them. So, here goes.
1. Ukraine did NOT always belong to Russia
The first claim Putin and his advocates endlessly preach is that Russian and Ukrainian history starts with The Kievan Rus (862–1242), a loosely-collected political federation in modern-day Ukraine, Belarus, and parts of Russia. It may be true that many Russians have genetic heritage from Ukraine and vice versa…
