[Tailgunner Joe]

They are part of Russia. Don't the Russian nationalists insist that Ukraine is Russia? Ukraine is Kievan Rus. They have an older claim to the name Russia than Moscow does.

[A. Pole]

Before Western Rus (Ukraine and Belarus) got under Lithanian/Polish rule the whole Rus was more or less one entity. The separate Ukrainie identity started to develop in XIX centure in the area around Lvov under Austrian rule.

Ukraine is Kievan Rus. They have an older claim to the name Russia than Moscow does.

The Moscow area was a part of Kievan Rus same way as Novgorod area (near St. Petersburg) or Kiev itself. You are projecting XX century politics into the past.