[SAJ]

Without commenting on the content of this article, for FReepers who are interested in Ukraina, please be advised that, when Poland was a great European power, the sjem, the Polish legislative body of ruling magnates, and the assorted czars of the time ROUTINELY played off both Ukraina and the Cossacks against each other; one empire supported with one hand and betrayed with the other, and the other empire recruited with one hand and executed with the other.

Some regions of Ukraina historically aligned with Poland, or with whichever nation was anti-czarist Russia, other (most) regions swore loyalty to the czars (cynical aside: see what it got them?).

Obviously, the political scene has changed from those days, but do please believe that the old resentments still linger; the East and the West of Ukraina are much more divided than the red and the blue states here.

FReegards to all!

[jb6]

Ukraina and the Cossacks against each other

Quick question: first, when besides now and shortly after 1917 has Ukraine ever been a nation? 2. Ukraina and Cossaks, well who exactly populated the vast majority of Ukraina if it wasn't the Cossaks, and what ethnic groups/social classes made up the Cossaks? 3. Who or what occupied all of Southern Ukraine and the Crimea upto the late 1800s. Who built Kharkov, Lughansk, Odessa, Dnepipetrovsk?

[Nathan Zachary]

I don't give much weight to that story. Gossip is a popular thing in the region, it was probably invented there. I have lots of relatives in both Poland and the Ukraine, each one of them has their own conspiracy story.
I think they are each assigned one at birth.
That aside, Keiv has a facinating history, it's said to be the first fortress built in Europe. Part of the main gate still stands.