[남산 Ddalggakbari] Russia's Invasion, What Kind of Country is Ukraine?

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] The homeland of Tchaikovsky's ancestors, where he himself stayed every summer at a villa and composed many masterpieces such as 'Andante Cantabile' based on local folk songs. The hometown of the literary master Dostoevsky's ancestors. The motherland of Sergey Korolyov, who played a key role in the launch of the Sputnik satellite. This is Ukraine. Ukraine is a sovereign independent country with its own unique history, culture, and science and technology. Excluding Russia, Ukraine is the largest country by area in Europe.

Ukraine is well known as Europe's largest granary. Its arable land area is equivalent to the total area of Japan and twice that of agricultural France. In the event of a global food crisis in the 21st century, Ukraine is considered one of the countries that could help alleviate the crisis. Its science and technology are also considerable. Intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the SS-19 and SS-21 were produced in Ukraine. The levels of arts, culture, and sports are also significant. Musicians such as Vladimir Horowitz, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter; ballet dancer Vaclav Nijinsky; founder of avant-garde painting Kazimir Malevich; pole vaulter Sergey Bubka; and figure skater Oksana Baiul are all from Ukraine.

According to the 'Primary Chronicle,' the historical record of the Kievan Rus principality, which Ukraine regards as the origin of its nation, the East Slavic Polans tribe lived around Kyiv. Among them, the eldest brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv, along with their younger sister Lybid, founded a city named Kyiv after the eldest brother. This marks the beginning of Kyiv, the current capital of Ukraine.

Currently, there is a dispute between Ukraine and Russia over who is the successor state of the Kievan Rus principality. Russia exerts influence over Ukraine, but in the 15th century, it was merely a confederation of non-Slavic tribes under the rule of Kievan Rus.

Historian Omashievsky refers to the Galicia-Volhynia principality, which ruled the area where 90% of today's Ukrainian population resides, as the 'first Ukrainian state.' However, in the 1340s, Volhynia and Galicia were annexed by Lithuania and Poland respectively, leading to the disappearance of the first Ukrainian state. Subsequently, Ukraine split into three ethnic groups: Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, each using their own languages.

However, Ukraine suffered severe ethnic oppression under the 1876 Ems Ukaz, which banned the import of Ukrainian books, prohibited the use of Ukrainian in lectures, banned the publication of Ukrainian newspapers, forbade Ukrainian-language education in elementary schools, expelled Ukrainian books from school libraries, closed Ukrainian-related organizations, and expelled Ukrainian activists.

Historically, Ukraine was ruled by many countries. Until World War I, 80% of Ukrainian territory was controlled by the Russian Empire, and 20% by the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 120 years. When the Soviet Union was established in 1922, Ukraine became part of the federation for over 70 years. During World War II, Ukraine lost 5.3 million people, one-sixth of its population. During this period, 40% of the Soviet Union's material losses occurred in Ukraine, a scale greater than that suffered by Russia, Germany, France, or Poland individually.

Ukraine broke free from Russian rule in 1990. Following the coup on August 18, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who sought to maintain the Soviet Union, lost power, while Boris Yeltsin gained influence. On August 24, the Ukrainian Supreme Council declared independence. Canada, which hosted many Ukrainian immigrants, quickly recognized the independence, followed by the United States on December 24. Currently, it is known that 1.5 million Ukrainians live in the U.S. and 1 million in Canada.

Incidentally, four years before independence, in 1986, a nuclear power plant accident occurred in Chernobyl, north of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. The Soviet Union's irresponsible response at the time is considered to have heightened anti-Soviet sentiment in Ukraine.

The expression 'History of the Ukraine' is a point of contention between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine originally means 'borderland.' From the perspective of Poland and Lithuania at the time, it was a border area. However, this interpretation is based on Russian (Soviet) history, and recently, a theory has emerged that the name derives from the common noun meaning 'land' or 'country.' Depending on the presence or absence of the definite article, the meaning changes, and the Ukrainian government has requested foreign governments to refer to the country as 'Ukraine' rather than 'the Ukraine.'

This book helps improve understanding of the contentious Ukraine situation and grasp its context. Eunhye Lee, editor at Geulhangari, said, "While searching for missing countries among domestic publications, we decided to prepare a history book on Ukraine. We thought we needed to fill in parts that readers were not well aware of, and interest increased with the Ukraine situation." She added, "It ranked first in Kyobo's history bestseller list and has gone through three printings so far."

The Last Great Power of Europe, History of Ukraine | Written by Kurokawa Yuji | Translated by An Seonju | Geulhangari | 296 pages | 16,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.