[MarsAscendant]

> It never was a country on its own until 1992

That's beside the point. Right now, there's a growing nationalist sentiment growing in Ukraine. If you go to Ukraine and shout this historical fact in the streets of, say, Kiyv, you might just encounter a group of people who violently disagree with the "underlying idea" (which you won't express, but they'll perceive) that Ukraine is Russia's bitch.

Imagine shouting about the Armenian genocide in Instanbul, or about the extermination and oppression of Native Americans in a major city in Texas.

Maybe not exactly, but you get the idea.

> My ancestors never immigrated from a country called Ukraine even though they were Ukrainian (or back then often called Ruthenian)

That kind of Ruthenian? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Galicia%E2%80%93Vol...]

Or that kind of Ruthenian? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenians_and_Ukrainians_in_C...]

Your ancestry might as well be "Polish with a mix of Lithuanian", 'cause who knows at this stage, no? Did you take a DNA test?

[Mikeb85]

> Right now, there's a growing nationalist sentiment growing in Ukraine

Yes there is, but Ukrainian Neo-Nazis aren't exactly known for their understanding of history.

> Imagine shouting about the Armenian genocide in Instanbul, or about the extermination and oppression of Native Americans in a major city in Texas.

Except Ukrainians and Russians are the same people, and it's Germans and others who slaughtered them.

> Your ancestry might as well be "Polish with a mix of Lithuanian", 'cause who knows at this stage, no? Did you take a DNA test?

Maybe, it's a region that's had many conquests and we're all mixed to some degree. But my ancestors all spoke Ukrainian and were Orthodox, and Slavic culture has always been defined by culture, not necessarily ethnicity.

[MarsAscendant]

> Except Ukrainians and Russians are the same people

I don't think that's for either of us to declare.

I'm at least quarter-Ukrainian from my father's side (I think my parental grandfather was Russian, but parental grandmother was certainly Ukrainian). You sound like you have much less than that in you. We're in no position to dictate who's one people and who aren't.

I do consider Ukrainians and Belarussians brotherly peoples, from my view as a Russian. I wish either of them no harm, and all the best, and hope that no major conflict arises between either of the three.

But they're going to be the ones to tell me what nation they are and what other traits they identify themselves with.

> and Slavic culture has always been defined by culture, not necessarily ethnicity.

I don't think Slavic culture – if there is, indeed, such a thing – defines itself with itself. It can't be its own description, see?

Aside from that... Don't you think there's this whole new massive issue of nationality that defines a people?