Editing Ukrainians (section)

==History==
{{further|History of Ukraine}}

===Early history===
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 [[Polans (eastern)|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]],<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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 Galicia–Volhynia|Kingdom of Ruthenia]] (1199–1349).<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

The third important state for Ukrainians is the [[Cossack Hetmanate]]. The Cossacks of [[Zaporizhzhia (region)|Zaporizhzhia]] since the late 15th century controlled the lower bends of the river Dnieper, between Russia, Poland and the [[Crimean Khanate|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 [[The Ruin (Ukrainian history)|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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> There were roughly 4 million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century.<ref>Ukraine, Orest Subtelny, page 152, 2000</ref>

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.<ref name="encyclopediaofukraine.com"/>

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

[[File:Famine Kharkov girl and goat 1933.jpg|thumb|A girl in [[Kharkiv]] 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]].<ref>"[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.</ref> 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&nbsp;million<ref name="Vallin">France 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 2005</ref><ref name="Vallin2">Jacques 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</ref> (3–3.5&nbsp;million)<ref name="HowMany">{{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 }}<br />{{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 }}</ref> and 12 million<ref>Rosefielde, 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</ref> although much higher numbers are usually published in the media and cited in political debates.<ref name=finn>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&nbsp;million and 3.5&nbsp;million. Yushchenko and others have said at least 10 million were killed."</ref> As of March 2008, the [[Verkhovna Rada|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.

===Historical maps of Ukraine===
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.
{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="border:1px solid #ddd; float:center; margin:5px 5px 0 0;"
|-
!style="background:#f5f5f5; padding:5px;"|<span style="margin:0 10px 0 20px;">Historical maps of Ukraine and its predecessors</span>
|-
|{{Gallery
|width=135
||Territory of Slavic peoples (6th century).
|File:East Slavic tribes peoples 8th 9th century.jpg|European territory inhabited by East Slavic tribes in 8th and 9th century.
|File:001 Kievan Rus' Kyivan Rus' Ukraine map 1220 1240.jpg|Historical map of Kievan Rus' and territory of Ukraine: last 20 years of the state (1220–1240).
|File:Kingdom of Galicia Volhynia Rus' Ukraine 1245 1349.jpg|The [[Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia]] or Kingdom of Halych-Volynia (1245–1349).
|File:Grand Duchy of Lithuania Rus and Samogitia 1434.jpg|Historical map of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], Rus' (Ukraine) and Samogitia until 1434.
<!-- Deleted from commons 13 February 2012
|File:Ukrainian Cossack state Zaporizhian Host 1649 1653.jpg|Historical map of [[Cossack Hetmanate]], also known as Hetmanate of Zaporizhian Host or Ukrainian Cossack state (1649–1653).
-->
|File:Polish Lithuanian Ruthenian Commonwealth 1658 historical map.jpg|[[Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth]] or Commonwealth of Three Nations (1658).
|File:007 Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate and Russian Empire 1751.jpg|Historical map of Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate and territory of Zaporozhian Cossacks under rule of [[Russian Empire]] (1751).
<!-- Deleted from commons 13 February 2012
|File:Ukrainian National Republic map 1917 1920.jpg|Historical map of Ukrainian National Republic or [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] (1917–1920).
-->
}}
|}