I’m old enough to remember the definite article preceding Ukraine. Yes, way back in the 20th century....
“Ukraine is one of a few English country names traditionally used with the definite article “The.” Use of the article was standard before Ukrainian independence, but has decreased since the 1990s. For example, the Associated Press dropped the article “the” on 3 December 1991. Use of the definite article was criticized as suggesting a non-sovereign territory, much like “the Lebanon” referred to the region before its independence, or as one might refer to “the Midwest”, a region of the United States.
In 1993, the Ukrainian government explicitly requested that, in linguistic agreement with countries and not regions, the Russian preposition в be used instead of на, and in 2012, the Ukrainian embassy in London further stated that it is politically and grammatically incorrect to use a definite article with Ukraine. Use of Ukraine without the definite article has since become commonplace in journalism and diplomacy (other examples are the style guides of The Guardian and The Times).”
sadly from Wikipedia but a thorough look at the use of ‘The’ before Ukraine that I remember being standard during the first two decades of my life.
If the Associated Press dropped it, then I’m keeping it.
From here on it’s “the Ukraine”
Thank you for curb-stomping the troll, with examples.
Dropping the “the” before Ukraine, is all the same 1984 Newspeak.