According to 2019 statistics, there were about 42 million people in Ukraine at that time (excluding Crimea), with a total of more than 130 ethnic groups, of which 77.8% were ethnic Ukrainians. The second most populous ethnic group is ethnic Russians, accounting for about 17.3%.
Ethnic Ukrainians are mainly found in the central and western states of Ukraine and have their own national language, Ukrainian. In addition, there are a small number of ethnic Ukrainians in Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and other places.
So how did the Ukrainians come into being? What does the Ukrainian ethnic group have to do with the Russian ethnic group?
Archaeology has found traces of ancient human activity in the territory of Ukraine in the early Paleolithic period. When it comes to Ukrainians and Russians, we have to mention the Slavs.
During the Roman Empire, the Slavs, Germans and Celts were collectively referred to by the Romans as the three barbarians of Europe, when the Slavs were still in a clan society. The Slavs were born in the Vistula Valley in what is now Poland, so it is also considered the homeland of the Slavs.
Around the 4th to 6th centuries AD, the Slavs gradually formed tribal alliances, and under the influence of various factors, began to migrate to various parts of Europe in the 6th century AD, and gradually divided into the three branches of The Yugoslavs (distributed in southeastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula south of the Danube), East Slavs (distributed in Eastern Europe) and West Slavs (distributed in Central Europe).
Some of the Slavs migrated to live along the Dnieper River and evolved into East Slavs, so the Dnieper River in Ukraine is also considered the birthplace of East Slavs.
Kiev was the commercial and handicraft center of the East Slavic tribes at that time. Around the 10th century AD, a state founded by the East Slavs emerged in the region, Kievan Rus' .
In the 12th century, Kievan Rus' gradually declined and split into several principalities. In the 13th century, when the Mongol Empire went west, the descendants of Genghis Khan established the Golden Horde, which did not fall until the 15th century, when many East Slavs were under the rule of the Golden Horde.
It was also during this period that the East Slavs gradually divided the three ethnic groups of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, forming their own unique languages, cultures, etc., and laying the foundation for the formation of the three countries of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Now the Russians are the largest branch of the East Slavs, followed by the Ukrainians.
To be precise, the formation of Ukrainians began around the 14th century. After this, after hundreds of years of upheaval, it finally became part of Tsarist Russia in the 17th century and matured to form the modern nation of Ukraine. It wasn't until the 1990s that Ukraine and Russia officially parted ways, ending more than 300 years of alliance.
Both Polish and Russian scripts are based on the Slavic alphabet and belong to the East Slavic branch of the Slavic family of Indo-European languages (including Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, etc.).
The Slavic alphabet, also known as the Cyrillic alphabet, was founded by the Christian missionary Cyril in the 9th century to facilitate the spread of Orthodox Christianity among the Slavic peoples. Both the Slavic alphabet and the Latin alphabet (or Roman alphabet) are derived from the Greek alphabet.
In summary, Ukrainians and Russians were once indeed fraternal peoples, with similar cultures, both of East Slavic origins. Originally born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry each other? It is a pity that the soldiers are fighting each other now.