#ukrainians

Jenny Westberg, July 7, 2026 ☺️

Ukrainians are an East Slavic nation native to the historic and ethnic territory of Ukraine, and are commonly treated as the sixth-largest nation in Europe; the ethnonym has deep roots in earlier forms such as Rusyny, Rusychi, and Rusy, which were later rendered in Latin as Ruthenians, showing how modern Ukrainian identity emerged out of the older world of Kyivan Rus’ and its successor traditions. In modern usage, Ukrainian identity is not defined by a single rigid marker: one influential reference describes Ukrainians as people whose native language is Ukrainian or who identify themselves as Ukrainian, and notes that contemporary Ukrainian civic identity can include permanent residents of different ethnic origins and languages, which helps explain why the group is culturally cohesive yet internally diverse. Their history has been shaped by the legacy of Kyivan Rus’, the Cossack Hetman state, centuries of imperial rule, Soviet-era migration and Russification, and then independence, so regional differences in dialect, memory, religion, and political outlook remain important. Religiously, Ukrainian life has long been influenced by Christianity, especially Eastern Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic tradition, though the broader population also includes other Christian confessions as well as Muslims and Jews. Ukrainians also have a very large diaspora: one encyclopedia states that more than one-quarter of all Ukrainians in the world live outside Ukraine, and Reuters reported in 2025 that Ukrainian officials estimated the diaspora at about 25 million people, underscoring how Ukrainian identity extends far beyond the country’s borders.

12:04 PM, 6/21/26

Cossack Mamai is a symbol of the Ukrainian spirit, the embodiment of freedom, wisdom and indomitability. His image is unique to Ukrainian culture. The Cossack is most often depicted with a kobza and a saber.

One of the founders of our cultural space is currently serving in the Ukrainian army and defending Ukraine. He shared a short video of rare moments of Ukrainian soldiers relaxing.

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