Places like Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk and Lugansk are closer to Moscow than to Prague or Warsaw. Its a world away from Lvov. Even ethnic Ukrainian Russophones feel connected to the Russian faith and culture. Its almost entirely like a different country. I think its more like Belarus - people want a sense of statehood but they also wish to maintain close ties to Russia.
You mean the same Ukrainians forced to learn Russian by their Soviet masters while growing up?
“Even ethnic Ukrainian Russophones feel connected to the Russian faith and culture”
Don’t forget how much simple household economics are playing into this.
A Russian future for many in these areas seems so much brighter than a Ukrainian economic one, where the level of corruption would make even a Russian Oligarch blush.
About Eastern Ukraine v/s W Ukraine culturally, you are correct.
“Places like Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk and Lugansk are closer to Moscow than to Prague or Warsaw. Its a world away from Lvov. Even ethnic Ukrainian Russophones feel connected to the Russian faith and culture. Its almost entirely like a different country. I think its more like Belarus - people want a sense of statehood but they also wish to maintain close ties to Russia.”
Your above statements are further examples of false propaganda and disinformation being used to destablize the Ukraine and divide the allies of the Ukraine using fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) as the weapons of a fifth columnist. here is the reality of the ethnic Russian population and the way they actually voted in regard to the political “close ties” you mentioned:
Kharkiv Oblast:
Ethnic Russian 25.6%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 10%
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Ethnic Russian 17.6%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 7%
Donetsk Oblast
Ethnic Russian 38.2%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 12%
Luhansk Oblast
Ethnic Russian 39.0%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 13%
The other Oblasts and cities with an ethnic Russian population greater thanpopulaton percentage greater than 9.4% are:
Zaporizhia Oblast
Ethnic Russian 24.7%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 7%
Kherson Oblast
Ethnic Russian 14.1%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 7%
Mykolaiv Oblast
Ethnic Russian 14.1%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 8%
Odessa Oblast
Ethnic Russian 20.7%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 11%
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
Ethnic Russian 58.3%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 42%
Kyiv City
Ethnic Russian 13.1%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 5%
Sevastopol City
Ethnic Russian 71.6%;
Voted against Ukraine independence from Russia 39%
As can be seen from the above 2001 census and 1991 voting referendum results, ethnic Russians are a minority or small minority in each of the Ukrainian administrative districts, except in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City. Not one of the Oblasts or cities voted in the majority against independence from Russia in the 1991 referendum or came anywhere remotely close to doing so, except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea 42% and Sevastopol City 39% despite their slight Russian population majority. So, the disinformation claiming the majority of ethnic Russians in the Ukraine have voted in favor of Russia and against the Ukraine are demoonstrated lies.
The reality is there are far more ethnic Ukrainians living in Russia and Ukrainian communities in greater geographic areas in Russia ranging from the borders with the Ukraine to Moscow and beyond to Siberia, where Ukrainians were exiled during the Soviet era, than there are ethnic Russians living in geographic areas of the Ukraine. Ukrainians are in fact the third largest ethnic group in Russia, after Russians and Tatars. Furthermore, the Russian government has an official policy discriminating against the Ukrainian population, their language, and their cultural organizations in Russia that has been the subject of conflict with Putin’s tyrannical regime. If the principle of alleged oppressed ethnic populations is to be the Russian basis for annexing territories, then Russia needs to surrender hundreds of thousands of kilometers of current Russian territories with their Ukrainian populations to the Ukraine. otherwise, Russia needs to abandon its conquest of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City and return them to the Ukraine.