[Travis McGee]

"You are confusing "nation" with "state." As with Ireland, the Ukrainian nation was occupied and ruled by foreign states, first Poland then Russia. But just as the Irish nation existed as a separate people under 800 years of English rule, so did the Ukrainian nation or people exist under Polish and Russian rule."

Ireland, an ISLAND NATION, had one language and one people before the British under Cromwell INVADED the ISLAND NATION.

"THE Ukraine" [meaning "The Borderland"] describes a shifting sandbar where peoples, languages, empires and nations have shifted to and fro, appeared and disappeared, conquering and being conquered, for thousands of years.

To compare the case of the 100% finite ISLAND NATION of Ireland to the SHIFTING SANDBAR of "THE Ukraine" ("The Borderland") destroys your own argument.

[JonPreston]

Ireland, an ISLAND NATION, had one language and one people before the British under Cromwell INVADED the ISLAND NATION.

Yes, and the Irish had a common religion too, until the Plantation of Ulster (colonization) under King James

Plantation of Ulster

[NorseViking]

Agreed, the idiots arguing it are annoying.

[Petrosius]

What has shifted is the borders of the ruling empires but a distinct Ukrainian population has remained throughout. The fact that they did not have the military power to resist the two empires that ruled over them does not negate that as a nation they existed. Ask a Ukrainian today if he is a Russian; he has a clear and distinct identity. No amount of historical rule by either the Poles or the Russians can erase that. The Ukrainians are not Russians; live with it!