Why is there a conflict between Russia and Ukraine? The historical answer is only 4 words: the national question
Why are Russia and Ukraine concentrated in the Donbass region (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) in eastern and southern Ukraine? If you want to use history to answer this question, there are only 4 words: the national question.
If you look at the name alone, Russia as a country should be predominantly Ethnic Russian, and the same is true of Ukraine, and the truth is also the same: the total population of Russia is 146 million people (as of 2020), there are 194 ethnic groups, of which 77.7% are Ethnic Russians; as of 2019, there are 130 ethnic groups in Ukraine, of which Ethnic Ukrainians account for 77.8% of the total population. In the final analysis, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is due to the distribution of the Ukrainian ethnic population, 77.8% of ethnic Ukrainians are mainly concentrated in the central and western states, while the ethnic Russians, who account for 17.3% of the total population of Ukraine, are mainly concentrated in the southeastern oblasts.
Moscow
Because Ukrainian Ethnic Russians are pro-Russian, the Donbass War in eastern and southern Ukraine began in February 2014, when pro-Russian forces controlled by Russia in the Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine fought against Ukrainian government forces, and pro-Russian forces demanded the incorporation of these areas into the Russian Federation, and pro-Russian people in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts also occupied government buildings and raised the Russian flag.
It seems like a war between two peoples, but are Russians and Ukrainians two peoples? History's answer to this question is, of course, one, but later it becomes two. If people in other countries today are only literally looking at it, it is difficult to distinguish the relationship with the Russians and Ukrainians, the word "Ukraine" first appeared in the History of Rus '( 1187), meaning "frontier land", it is clear that this "frontier land" is for Rus, in the 9th-12th centuries Kievan Rus', they were called Rus' like The Russians, although their ethnic language is Ukrainian, but even today Ukrainians are fluent in Russian, and a large proportion of eastern Ukrainians speak Russian as their mother tongue.
Ukraine
The "Frontier Lands" refers to the Rus' people living in the "Frontier Lands" in the Warren region of Southern Ross Galicia, and as the term "Ukraine" gradually expanded, the geographical concepts evolved into linguistic and ethnic concepts, and by the 15th century the Ukrainian nation had formed a separate national identity - its own language, living area and economic, political and religious characteristics.
The Russians, of course, are Rus' and the reason why there is an additional "Russia" in front of the family name is because in 1547, Ivan IV proclaimed himself "Tsar" and his country name was "Russia". The ancestors of the Rus' people were the East Slavic Rus tribe, belonging to the Europa race, and were called "Viledians" by Roman historians in the 1st century AD, and "Luocha" in ancient Chinese texts. At the beginning of the Common Era, the East Slavs still retained a clan system, and each tribe consisted of several clans. They cut down forests, leveled the land, engaged in farming, collectively raised livestock, hunted and fished, all matters decided by the clan assembly. It was not until 862 AD that there was a monarchy with its own ethnic group as the main body, because the capital was in Kiev, also known as Kievan Rus' and so on.
Map of Ukraine
At the beginning of the 10th century, Kievan Rus' expanded, with its territory stretching east to the volga estuary, through the Crimean Peninsula to the Mouth of the Danube, north from Lake Ladoga, along the Baltic Sea coast, and south to the steppes. This was also the golden age in Kiev's history. At that time, they also accepted the Orthodox Church and also created the Rus' Code. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol Empire invaded and established the Khanate of Chincha in Eastern Europe, the allied forces of the Rus with other peoples were defeated, and the Rus submitted to the Khanate of Chincha. Thereafter, the center of gravity of Rus' development shifted to the area around Moscow in the northeast.
Kiev, the capital of present-day Ukraine, is known as the "mother of the Rus' cities", it is the oldest city established by the Rus' people, but as the center of gravity of the Rus' development shifted to the moscow area in the northeast, it also had the meaning of "frontier". Since then, Ukraine and Russia have been divided and merged, formally merging in 1654, Ukraine joining the Soviet Union in 1922 (Western Ukraine joined in 1939), until August 24, 1991, when Ukraine declared its independence.
That is to say, the Russians and Ukrainians were originally one nation, but in the course of historical development, they have gradually become two nations, even two countries, and even today's conflict. At the beginning of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", one of the four famous works on the mainland, there is such a sentence: "The general trend of the world will be divided for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time." But the "tianxia" mentioned here clearly refers only to China, not to other countries. China has its own national conditions, of course, such a discourse will be produced, and it is not suitable for other countries. If the conflict between Russia and Ukraine can give some enlightenment to other countries, then it should be:
A country cannot be a single nation, it should be the common home of many nationalities, and those in power must cultivate the sense of identity of these peoples to the country, that is, to improve the cohesion and centripetal force of the peoples for the country, rather than doing their own thing in a laissez-faire. Because once the recognition of the country is lacking, the "general trend of the world" must not be able to talk about the internal style of "unity for a long time, and it will be united for a long time", and once some regions or ethnic groups are separated, they will never come back. Russia and Ukraine, if this problem had been resolved during the Soviet era, it is clear that today's conflict could not exist.