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That's the part I never understood. Where “the” was a symbol of Russ-ion oppression (the Ukrainian SSR) or Soviet domination, but there is “the” in Russian.

Only think I don't understand is that my family emigrated to the US (mostly just before WWI), any both side of my family called it “The Ukraine”.

It could be that they picked that up in the NYC schools, or from speaking to people here, who used “the”.

I'm know the English form “the” under the Soviet era, pre-1991 Declaration of Independence, but I don't know whether it was “The Ukraine” before the Soviets.

Other possibility is that Western Ukraine, home of the ethnic Ukrainians, was under the control of outside powers since what, the 1400’s (Polish, Lithuanian, Polish-Lithuaian, Turks, Russians, Austrians, then the Soviets. The Ukraine (being geography, people, language culture, smoked meats and fish, and salo) persisted independently from who controlled it at the time. It was an expression of cultural or ethnic pride, and maybe, hope for independence.

Now, it's a country (defined by the borders of the Ukrainian SSR under the Soviets). The country includes the ancestral home of the Ukrainian People, and other territory that is ethnically Russian (or other smaller populations).

Let's see how the next six-months go before we settle on a name. It might appropriate to differentiate between the two concepts.