You do know that Ukrainians and Russians are basically the same ethinic group, right?
In terms of racial make up, the majority of Russians are genetically similar to Ukrainians. I’ll discount the Tuvans, taters, Chivas, chechens, udmurts, kalmyks, Ossetians, yachts etc for now.
However I mentioned that “Muscowy is a successor state to tye Mongols. Creating pyramids of skulls was the Mongol way to scare opposition”
That is, culturally and politically Muscowy descends from the Mongol Khaganate.
Ethnicity is not race or genetics. Thise play a minor role.
What creates an ethnicity is a combination of culture, religion, language and history. And those 4 interact with each other.
Take the Punjabis. Genetically speaking the Pakistani Muslim Punjabis, the Indian Sikh Punjabis in Punjhand the Indian Hindu Jat Punjabis in Haryana are the same people.
And, until the 12th century they were the same. But they diverged under religious and then historic conditions and now the languages are diverging.
Or between a person from Limburg, another from Hamburg and another from Brandenburg. Racially similar, but history and religion determined a change in culture and thereby ethnicity.
Not anymore this is exactly how to make 1 ethic group into 2 ethic groups