Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
constitute the country's largest
ethnic minority
The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
in Ukraine. This community forms the largest single Russian community outside of Russia in the world. In the
2001 Ukrainian census, 8,334,100 identified themselves as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the population of Ukraine); this is the combined figure for persons originating from outside of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-born population declaring Russian ethnicity.
Language
Geography

Ethnic Russians live throughout Ukraine. They form a notable fraction of the overall population in the east and south, a significant minority in the center, and a smaller minority in the west.
[
The west and the center of the country feature a higher percentage of Russians in cities and industrial centers and much smaller percentage in the overwhelmingly Ukrainophone rural areas.][ Due to the concentration of the Russians in the cities, as well as for historic reasons, most of the largest cities in the center and the south-east of the country (including ]Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
where Russians amount to 13.1% of the population
Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...
)[ remained largely ]Russophone
This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of Derus ...
.[ Russians constitute the majority in ]Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
(71.7% in Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
and 58.5% in the Autonomous republic of Crimea
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,[Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...]
(48.2%) and Makiivka (50.8%) in Donetsk Oblast
Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...
, Ternivka (52.9%) in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...
, Krasnodon (63.3%) and Sverdlovsk (Dovzhansk) (58.7%) and Krasnodon Raion (51.7%) and Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion (61.1%) in Luhansk Oblast
Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...
, Izmail
Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...
(43.7%) in Odesa Oblast
Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...
, Putyvl Raion (51.6%) in Sumy Oblast
Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...
.
There are two notable sub-ethnic groups of Russians in Ukraine: the Goryuns around Putyvl
Putyvl (, ; , ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, in north-east Ukraine. The city served as the administrative center of Putyvl Raion until the administrative reform in 2018; now it is under the jurisdiction of Konotop Raion. Population:
History
One ...
, and the Lipovans
The Lipovans or Lippovans are ethnic Russians, Russian Old Believers living in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who settled in the Principality of Moldavia, in the east of the Principality of Wallachia (Muntenia), and in the regions of D ...
(a group of Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...
) around Vylkove.
History
Early history
One of the most prominent Russians in Medieval Ukraine (at that time the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
) was Ivan Fyodorov, who published the Ostrog Bible and called himself a Muscovite
Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage y ...
.
In 1599, Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the construction of Tsareborisov on the banks of Oskol River
The Oskil or Oskol (; ) is a south-flowing river in Russia and Ukraine. It arises roughly between Kursk and Voronezh and flows south to join the Donets, Siverskyi Donets which flows southeast to join the Don (river), Don. It is long, with a dra ...
, the first city and the first fortress in Eastern Ukraine. To defend the territory from Tatar raids the Russians built the Belgorod defensive line (1635–1658), and Ukrainians started fleeing to be under its defense.
More Russian speakers appeared in northern, central and eastern Ukrainian territories during the late 17th century, following the Cossack Rebellion led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...
. The uprising led to a massive movement of Ukrainian settlers to the Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...
region, which converted it from a sparsely inhabited frontier area to one of the major populated regions of the Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721.
...
. Following the Treaty of Pereyaslav, Ukrainian Cossacks lands, including the modern northern and eastern parts of Ukraine, became a protectorate of the Tsardom of Russia. This brought the first significant, but still small, wave of Russian settlers into central Ukraine (primarily several thousand soldiers stationed in garrisons, out of a population of approximately 1.2 million non-Russians).
At the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire captured large uninhabited steppe territories from the former Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
. The systematic colonization of lands in what became known as Novorossiya
Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...
(mainly Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, Taurida and around Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
) began. Migrants from many ethnic groups (predominantly Ukrainians and Russians from Russia proper) came to the area. At the same time, the discovery of coal in the Donets Basin
The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...
also marked the commencement of a large-scale industrialization and an influx of workers from other parts of the Russian Empire.
Nearly all of the major cities of southern and eastern Ukraine were established or developed in this period: Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...
; 1770), Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro
Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
; 1776), Kherson
Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...
and Mariupol
Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...
(1778), Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
(1783), Simferopol
Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...
and Novoaleksandrovka (Melitopol
Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...
) (1784), Nikolayev (Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...
; 1789), Odessa (Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
; 1794), Lugansk (Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine.
Luhansk served as the administra ...
; foundation of Luhansk plant in 1795).
Both Russians and Ukrainians made up the bulk of the migrants – 31.8% and 42.0% respectively. The population of Novorossiya eventually became intermixed, and with Russification
Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy.
Russification was at times ...
being the state policy, the Russian identity dominated in mixed families and communities. The Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
officially regarded Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians as Little, Great
Great may refer to:
Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
* Artel Great (bo ...
and White Russians, which, according to the theory officially accepted in the Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
, belonged to a single Russian nation, the descendants of the people of Kievan Rus
Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,.
* was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of Russ ...
.
In the beginning of the 20th century, Russians were the largest ethnic group in the following cities: Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
(54.2%), Kharkov
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine. (63.1%), Odessa
ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
(49.09%), Nikolayev (66.33%), Mariupol
Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...
(63.22%), Lugansk (68.16%), Berdyansk (66.05%), Kherson
Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...
(47.21%), Melitopol
Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...
(42.8%), Yekaterinoslav (41.78%), Yelizavetgrad (34.64%), Pavlograd (34.36%), Simferopol
Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...
(45.64%), Feodosiya
Feodosia (, ''Feodosiia, Teodosiia''; , ''Feodosiya''), also called in English Theodosia (from ), is a city on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea. Feodosia serves as the administrative center of Feodosia Municipality, one of the regions into w ...
(46.84%), Yalta
Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...
(66.17%), Kerch
Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of
Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...
(57.8%), Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
(63.46%), Chuguev
Chuhuiv () or Chuguev () is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The city is the Capital (political), administrative center of Chuhuiv Raion (district). It hosts the administration of Chuhuiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population ...
(86%).[Дністрянський М.С. Етнополітична географія України. Лівів. Літопис, видавництво ЛНУ імені Івана Франка, 2006, page 342 ]
Russian Civil War in Ukraine
The first Russian Empire Census, conducted in 1897, showed extensive usage (and in some cases dominance) of the Little Russian, a contemporary term for the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians.
Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
, in the nine south-western Governorates and Kuban
Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...
. Thus, when the Central Rada officials were outlining the future borders of the new Ukrainian state they took the results of the census in regards to the language and religion as determining factors. The ethnographic borders of Ukraine thus turned out to be almost twice as large as the original Bohdan Khmelnytsky
Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...
State
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
incorporated into the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
during the 17-18th centuries.
During World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, a strong national movement managed to obtain some autonomous rights from the Russian government in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. However, the October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
brought big changes for the new Russian Republic
The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...
. Ukraine became a battleground between the two main Russian war factions during the Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
(1918–1922), the Communist Reds (Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
) and the Anti-Bolshevik Whites (Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army (; ), abbreviated to (), also known as the Southern White Army was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920. The Volunteer Army fought against Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists on the ...
).
The October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
also found its echo amongst the extensive working class, and several Soviet Republics were formed by the Bolsheviks in Ukraine: the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets, Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida, Odessa Soviet Republic and the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic.
The Russian SFSR government supported military intervention against the Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
, which at different periods controlled most of the territory of present-day Ukraine with the exception of Crimea and Western Ukraine. Although there were differences between Ukrainian Bolsheviks initially, which resulted in the proclamation of several Soviet Republics in 1917, later, due in large part to pressure from Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
and other Bolshevik leaders, one Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
was proclaimed.
The Ukrainian SSR was ''de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...
'' a separate state until the formation of the USSR in 1922 and survived until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Lenin insisted that ignoring the national question in Ukraine would endanger the support of the Revolution among the Ukrainian population and thus new borders of Soviet Ukraine were established to the extent that the Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
was claiming in 1918. The new borders completely included Novorossiya
Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...
(including the short-lived Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic) and other neighboring provinces, which contained a substantial number of ethnic Russians.
Ukrainization in Early Soviet times
In his 1923 speech devoted to the national and ethnic issues in the party and state affairs, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
identified several obstacles in implementing the national program of the party. Those were the "dominant-nation chauvinism", "economic and cultural inequality" of the nationalities and the "survivals of nationalism among a number of nations which have borne the heavy yoke of national oppression".
In Ukraine's case, both threats came, respectively, from the south and the east: Novorossiya with its historically strong Russian cultural influence, and the traditional Ukrainian center and west. These considerations brought about a policy of Ukrainization, to simultaneously break the remains of the Great Russia
Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' ( , ; , ; , ), is a name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. This was the land to which the e ...
n attitude and to gain popularity among the Ukrainian population, thus recognizing their dominance of the republic. The Ukrainian language was mandatory for most jobs, and its teaching became compulsory in all schools.
By the early 1930s attitudes towards the policy of Ukrainization had changed within the Soviet leadership. In 1933 Stalin declared that local nationalism was the main threat to Soviet unity. Consequently, many changes introduced during the Ukrainization period were reversed: Russian language schools, libraries and newspapers were restored and even increased in number. Changes were brought territorially as well, forcing the Ukrainian SSR to cede some territories to the RSFSR. Thousands of ethnic Ukrainians were deported to the far east of the Soviet Union, numerous villages with Ukrainian majority were eliminated with Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...
, while remaining Ukrainians were subjected to discrimination. During this period parents in the Ukrainian SSR could choose to send their children whose native language was not Ukrainian to schools with Russian as the primary language of instruction.
Later Soviet times
The territory of Ukraine was one of the main battlefields during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and its population, including Russians, significantly decreased. The infrastructure was heavily damaged and it required human and capital resources to be rebuilt. This compounded with depopulation caused by two famines of 1931–1932 and a third in 1947 to leave the territory with a greatly reduced population. A large portion of the wave of new migrants to industrialize, integrate and Sovietize the recently acquired western Ukrainian territories were ethnic Russians who mostly settled around industrial centers and military garrisons.[Терлюк І.Я. Росіяни західних областей України (1944–1996 р.р.) (Етносоціологічне дослідження). – Львів: Центр Європи, 1997.- С.25.] This increased the proportion of the Russian speaking population.
Near the end of the War, the entire population of Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...
(numbering up to a quarter of a million) was expelled from their homeland in Crimea to Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, under accusations of collaborations with Germans. The Crimea was repopulated by the new wave of Russian and Ukrainian settlers and the Russian proportion of the population of Crimea went up significantly (from 47.7% in 1937 to 61.6% in 1993) and the Ukrainian proportion doubled (12.8% in 1937 and 23.6% in 1993).
The Ukrainian language remained a mandatory subject of study in all Russian schools, but in many government offices preference was given to the Russian language that gave an additional impetus to the advancement of Russification
Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy.
Russification was at times ...
. The 1979 census showed that only one third of ethnic Russians spoke the Ukrainian language fluently.
In 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislative branch of the great Soviet ...
issued the decree on the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. This action increased the ethnic Russian population of Ukraine by almost a million people. Many Russian politicians considered the transfer to be controversial. Controversies and legality of the transfer remained a sore point in relations between Ukraine and Russia for a few years, and in particular in the internal politics in Crimea. However, in a 1997 treaty between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Russia recognized Ukraine's borders and accepted Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea.[Ukraine: A History. Subtelny, Orest ]University of Toronto Press
The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911.
The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...
2000, , 600
Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state. This independence was supported by the referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
in all regions of Ukrainian SSR, including those with large Russian populations. A study of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...
found that in 1991, 75% of ethnic Russians in Ukraine no longer identified themselves with the Russian nation. In the December 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 55% of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine voted for independence.
The return of Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...
has resulted in several high-profile clashes over land ownership and employment rights.
In 1994 a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast
Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...
and the Luhansk Oblast
Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...
, with around 90% supporting the Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
to be an official language on a regional level; however, the referendum was annulled by the Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
government.
Much controversy has surrounded the reduction of schools with Russian as their main language of instruction. In 1989, there were 4,633 schools with Russian as the main instruction language, and by 2001 this number fell to 2,001 schools or 11.8% of the total in the country. A significant number of these Russian schools were converted into schools in with both Russian and Ukrainian language classes. By 2007, 20% of pupils in public schools studied in Russian classes.
Some regions such as Rivne Oblast
Rivne Oblast (), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is . Its population is:
Before its annexation by the ...
have no schools with Russian only instruction left, but only Russian classes provided in the mixed Russian-Ukrainian schools. As of May 2007, only seven schools with Russian as the main language of instruction are left in Kyiv, with 17 more mixed language schools totaling 8,000 pupils,[Шестая часть киевских школьников изучает русский язык](_blank)
''Korrespondent.net
The ''Korrespondent.net'' ( ; ; literally: ''Correspondent'') is an online newspaper in Ukraine launched in 2000. It is a sister project to the ''Korrespondent'' printed weekly magazine also containing the latter's reduced free online version. ''K ...
'', May 29, 2007 with the rest of the pupils attending the schools with Ukrainian being the only language of instruction. Among the latter pupils, 45,700 (or 18% of the total) study the Russian language as a separate subject[ in the largely Russophone Ukrainian capital,][In the 2003 sociological survey in Kyiv the answers to the question 'What language do you use in everyday life?' were distributed as follows: 'mostly Russian': 52%, 'both Russian and Ukrainian in equal measure': 32%, 'mostly Ukrainian': 14%, 'exclusively Ukrainian': 4.3%.]
. although an estimated 70 percent of Ukraine's population nationwide consider that Russian should be taught at secondary schools along with Ukrainian.[
The Russian Cultural Center in Lviv has been attacked and vandalized on several occasions. On January 22, 1992, it was raided by UNA-UNSO led by the member of ]Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is
History Name
The region is named ...
Council.[ UNA-UNSO members searched the building, partially destroyed archives and pushed people out from the building.][ Their attackers declared that everything in Ukraine belonged to the Ukrainians, so the Russians and the ]Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
were not allowed to reside or have property there.[ The building was vandalized during the Papal Visit to Lviv in 2001, then in 2003 (5 times), 2004 (during the Orange Revolution), 2005, 2006.
After the Euromaidan events, regions with a large ethnic Russian populations became the scene of Anti-Maidan protests and Russian-backed separatist activity. After being Capture of the Crimean Parliament, seized by Little green men (Russo-Ukrainian War), Russian unmarked troops, the Supreme Council of Crimea announced the 2014 Crimean referendum, and sent a request to Russia to send military forces into the ]Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
to "protect" the local population from Euromaidan protesters, which marked the beginning of the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Russian annexation of Crimea. Major Anti-Maidan protests took place in other Russian language, Russian speaking major cities like Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
, Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
, and Kharkiv. After the elected regional parliament of the Donetsk Oblast
Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...
refused to comply with the demands of the pro-Russian protesters, the secessionists decided to create their own council consisting of unelected separatist individuals, which in its first session voted to conduct a referendum on deciding the future of the region.
On 3 March, a number of people, including Russian nationals with "clear Russian accents", who referred to themselves as "tourists", started storming the Donetsk Regional State Administration Building, regional administration building in Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
, waving Russian flags and shouting ″Russia!″ and ″Berkut (special police force), Berkut are heroes!″. The police was not able to offer much resistance, and was quickly overrun by the crowd. The regional council in Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine.
Luhansk served as the administra ...
, in which the Party of Regions, party of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich held an absolute majority, voted to demand granting the Russian language in Ukraine, Russian language the status as second official language, stopping ″the persecution of Berkut (special police force), Berkut fighters″, disarming Maidan self-defense units and banning a number far-right political organizations like Svoboda (political party), Svoboda and UNA-UNSO. If the authorities failed to comply with the demands, the Oblast council reserved itself the ″right to ask for help from the brotherly people of the Russian Federation.″
The pro-Russian protests in Donetsk Oblast, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast, Luhansk Oblasts of Ukraine, oblasts of the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine escalated into an armed separatist insurgency, which was backed by Russian Special Operations Forces (Russia), special and Russian Armed Forces, regular forces. This led the Ukrainian government to launch a military counter-offensive against the insurgents in April 2014. During this war, major cities like Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine.
Luhansk served as the administra ...
and Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
have seen heavy shelling. According to the United Nations, 730,000 refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have fled to Russia since the beginning of 2014. Approximately 14,200 people, including 3,404 civilians, Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War, have died from 2014-2022 because of the war.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, said that there is no "Russian ethnic minority" in Ukraine and that "if these people show aggression rather than respect towards Ukraine, then their rights should be correspondingly suppressed."
Discrimination
In total, according to a 2007 country-wide survey by the Institute of Sociology, only 0.5% of the respondents describe as belonging to a group that faces discrimination by language. Furthermore, in a poll held October 2008, 42.8% of the Ukrainian respondents said they regard Russia as “very good” while 44.9% said their attitude was “good" (87% positive).
According to the Institute of Sociology surveys conducted yearly between 1995 and 2005, the percentage of respondents who have encountered cases of ethnic-based discrimination against Russians during the preceding year has consistently been low (mostly in single digits), with no noticeable difference when compared with the number of incidents directed against any other nation, including the Ukrainians and the Jews.[See Panina, p. 48] According to the 2007 Comparative Survey of Ukraine and Europe only 0.1% of Ukrainian residents consider themselves belonging to a group which is discriminated by nationality. However, by April 2017 in a public opinion survey conducted by Rating Group Ukraine, 57 percent of Ukrainians polled expressed a very cold or cold attitude toward Russia, as opposed to only 17 percent who expressed a very warm or warm attitude.
Some surveys indicate that Russians are not socially distanced in Ukraine. The indicator of the willingness of Ukraine's residents to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with different ethnic groups (the Bogardus Social Distance Scale) calculated based on the yearly sociological surveys has been consistently showing that Russians are, on the average, least socially distanced within Ukraine except the Ukrainians themselves.[Panina, pp. 49–57] The same survey has shown that, in fact, that Ukrainian people are slightly more comfortable accepting Russians into their families than they are accepting Ukrainian diaspora, Ukrainians living abroad.[ Such social attitude correlates with the political one as the surveys taken yearly between 1997 and 2005 consistently indicated that the attitude to the idea of Ukraine joining the union of Russia and Belarus is more positive (slightly over 50%) than negative (slightly under 30%).][Panina, p. 29]
Russian political refugees in Ukraine
Since Dignity Revolution the Russian government dramatically increased the anti-opposition campaign which resulted in politically motivated cases against Russian liberal opposition. As a result, many notable Russians moved to Ukraine to avoid political prosecution in Russia.
Notable examples are Ilya Ponomaryov (the only member of parliament who voted against the annexation of Crimea), journalists Matvey Ganapolsky, Arkadiy Babchenko, Evgeny Kiselyov, Alexander Nevzorov and others.
According to the statistics presented by the United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2014 approximately 140 Russians applied for political asylum in Ukraine. In the first six months of 2015 this number grew by fifty people more.
In the same time Ukrainian migration policies are complicated and limit the number of Russians who can successfully apply for a refugee status.
Russophobia
The ultra-nationalist political party Svoboda (political party), "Svoboda" has invoked radical Russophobic rhetoric and has electoral support enough to garner majority support in local councils, as seen in the 2009 Ternopil Oblast local election, Ternopil regional council in Western Ukraine. In 2004 Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the "Svoboda" party, urged his party to fight "the Moscow-Jewish mafia" ruling Ukraine. "Svoboda" members held senior positions in First Yatsenyuk Government, Ukraine's government in 2014. But the party lost 30 seats of the 37 seats (its first seats in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian Parliament it had won in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2012 parliamentary election) in the late October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election[Ukraine election:President Yanukovych party claims win](_blank)
BBC News (29 October 2012). and did not return to Second Yatsenyuk Government, Ukraine's government.
Russian language
According to 2006 survey by Research & Branding Group (Donetsk) 39% of Ukrainian citizens think that the rights of the Russophones are violated because the Russian language is not official in the country, whereas 38% of the citizens have the opposite position.[Большинство украинцев говорят на русском языке](_blank)
''Podrobnosti'', December 04, 2006.
''REGNUM News Agency, REGNUM'', December 04, 2006 According to annual surveys by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences 43.9% to 52.0% of the total population of Ukraine supports the idea of granting the status of state language to Russian.[Natalia Panina, "Ukrainian Society 1994–2005: Sociological Monitoring", ''Sophia'', Kyiv, 2005, ,]
pdf
), p. 58 At the same time, this is not viewed as an important issue by most of Ukraine's citizens. On a cross-national survey involving ranking the 30 important political issues, the legal status of the Russian language was ranked 26th, with only 8% of respondents (concentrated primarily in Crimea and Donetsk) feeling that this was an important issue.
Russian continues to dominate in several regions and in Ukrainian businesses, in leading Ukrainian magazines, and other printed media. Russian language in Ukraine still dominates the everyday life in some areas of the country.
On February 23, 2014, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill to repeal the 2012 Legislation on languages in Ukraine, law on minority languages, which—if signed by the Ukrainian president—would have established Ukrainian as the sole official state language of all Ukraine, including Crimea which is populated by a Russian-speaking majority. Repeal of the law was met with great disdain in Southern and Eastern Ukraine. ''The Christian Science Monitor'' reported: "The [adoption of this bill] only served to infuriate Russian-speaking regions, [who] saw the move as more evidence that the antigovernment protests in Kiev that toppled Yanukovich's government were intent on pressing for a Ukrainian nationalism, nationalistic agenda." A proposal to repeal the law was vetoed on 28 February 2014 by acting president Oleksandr Turchynov. On 28 February 2018 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled the 2012 law on minority languages unconstitutional.[Constitutional Court declares unconstitutional language law of Kivalov-Kolesnichenko](_blank)
Ukrinform (28 February 2018)
On September 25, 2017, a new law on education was signed by President Petro Poroshenko (draft approved by Rada on September 5, 2017) which says that Ukrainian language
Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians.
Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
is the language of education at all levels except for one or more subjects that are allowed to be taught in two or more languages, namely English language, English or one of the other official languages of the European Union. The law faced criticism from officials in Russia and Hungary. According to the ''New Europe'':
The ''Unian'' reported that "A ban on the use of cultural products, namely movies, books, songs, etc., in the Russian language in the public has been introduced" in the Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is
History Name
The region is named ...
in September 2018.
Authors
Some authors born in Ukraine who write in the Russian language, notably Marina and Sergey Dyachenko and Vera Kamsha, were born in Ukraine, but moved to Russia at some point. Marina and Sergey Dyachenko later moved to California.
Russo-Ukrainian War
In March 2022, during the Siege of Mariupol, Mariupol's deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov said that "Half of those killed by Russian bombing are Russian-origin Ukrainians."
Demographics
Trends
In general the population of ethnic Russians in Ukraine increased due to assimilation and in-migration between 1897 and 1939 despite the famine, war and Revolution. Since 1991 it has decreased drastically in all regions, both quantitatively and proportionally. Ukraine in general lost 3 million Russians, or a little over one-quarter of all Russians living there in the 10-year period between 1991 and 2001, dropping from over 22% of the population of Ukraine to just over 17%. In the past 22 years since 2001, a further drop of Russian numbers has continued.
Several factors have affected this – most Russians lived in urban centres in Soviet times and thus were hit the hardest by the economic hardships of the 1990s. Some chose to emigrate from Ukraine to (mostly) Russia or to the West. Finally some of those who were counted as Russians in Soviet times declared themselves Ukrainian during the last census.
The Russian population is also hit by the factors that affected all the population of Ukraine, such as low birth rate and high death rate.
Numbers
2001 census showed that 95.9% of Russians in Ukraine consider the Russian language to be native for them, 3.9% named Ukrainian to be their native language.[Дністрянський М.С. Етнополітична географія України. Лівів, Літопис, видавництво ЛНУ імені Івана Франка, 2006, page 261, ] The majority, 59.6%[Дністрянський М.С. Етнополітична географія України. Лівів, Літопис, видавництво ЛНУ імені Івана Франка, 2006, page 259, ] of Ukrainian Russians were born in Ukraine. They constitute 22.4% of all urban population and 6.9% of rural population in the country.
Women make up 55.1% of Russians, men are 44.9%. The average age of Russians in Ukraine is 41.9 years. The imbalance in sexual and age structure intensifies in western and central regions. In these regions the Russians are concentrated in the industrial centers, particularly the oblast centres.
Current demographic trends
Religion
The majority of the Russians are Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Faith and predominantly belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a former Ukrainian exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which received an Autonomy (Eastern Christianity), ecclesiastical Autonomy from the latter on October 27, 1990.[Определение Архиерейского Собора Русской Православной Церкви 25 – 27 октября 1990 года об Украинской Православной Церкви](_blank)
There are small minorities of Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...
, notably Lipovans
The Lipovans or Lippovans are ethnic Russians, Russian Old Believers living in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who settled in the Principality of Moldavia, in the east of the Principality of Wallachia (Muntenia), and in the regions of D ...
, as well as Protestants, indigenous Spiritual Christians, and Catholics among Russians. In addition, there is a sizable portion of those who consider themselves atheists.
Politics
Elections
Political parties whose electoral platforms are crafted specifically to cater to the Russian voters' sentiments fared exceptionally well. Until the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election several of Elections in Ukraine, Ukraine's elections, political parties that call for closer ties with Russia received a higher percentage of votes in the areas where Russian-speaking population predominate.
Parties like the Party of Regions, Communist Party of Ukraine and the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Progressive Socialist Party were particularly popular in Crimea, Southern and Southeastern regions of Ukraine. In the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002 parliamentary election, the mainstream Party of Regions, with a stronghold based on Eastern and Southern Ukraine came first with 32.14%, ahead of its two nationally conscious main rivals, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (22.29%) and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, Our Ukraine Bloc (13.95%), while also Russophile Communist Party of Ukraine collected 3.66% and the radically pro-Russian Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc 2.93% coming closest of the small parties to overcoming the 3% barrier.[Central Election Commission of Ukraine](_blank)
, ''Ukrainska Pravda''
In the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007 parliamentary election, the Party of Regions came first with 34.37% (losing 130,000 votes), the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc second with 31.71% (winning 1.5 million votes), the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc third with 14.15% (losing 238,000 votes), the Communist Party of Ukraine fourth with 5.39% (winning 327,000 votes) while the Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc dropped to 1.32%.[ Although the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc attracted most of its voters from Western Ukrainian, Ukrainian-speaking provinces (Administrative divisions of Ukraine, Oblasts), it had in recent years recruited several politicians from Russian-speaking provinces like Crimea (Lyudmyla Denisova) and ]Luhansk Oblast
Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...
(Natalia Korolevska). In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2012 parliamentary election Party of Regions again won 30% and the largest number of seats while All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", Fatherland (successor to Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) came second with 25.54%.[After the parliamentary elections in Ukraine: a tough victory for the Party of Regions](_blank)
Centre for Eastern Studies (7 November 2012) The Communist Party of Ukraine raised its percentage of the votes in this election to 13.18%.[With all party lists ballots counted, Regions Party gets 30%, Batkivschyna 25.54%, UDAR 13.96%, Communists 13.18%, Svoboda 10.44%](_blank)
Kyiv Post (November 8, 2012)
In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2014 parliamentary election the Party of Regions successor Opposition Bloc was overrun by the non-pro-Russian Petro Poroshenko Bloc in southern regions.[ In the election Opposition Bloc scored 9.43%, finishing fourth.][Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament](_blank)
Ukrinform (8 November 2014)
People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC
Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC
Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014) Opposition Bloc gained most votes East Ukraine, but scored second best in former Party of Regions stronghold South Ukraine (trailing behind Petro Poroshenko Bloc).[Kharkiv, Luhansk, Zaporizhia regions prefer Opposition Bloc](_blank)
Interfax-Ukraine (27.10.2014) The Communist Party of Ukraine was eliminated from representation in the election because it failed to overcome the 5% election threshold with its 3.87% of the votes.[Ukrainian Communist leader Symonenko not planning to leave country]
Interfax-Ukraine (29 October 2014)
Ukraine’s Elections Mark a Historic Break With Russia and Its Soviet Past
Time magazine (October 27, 2014)[General official results of Rada election](_blank)
Interfax-Ukraine (11 November 2014)
Central Election Commission announces official results of Rada election on party tickets
Interfax-Ukraine (11 November 2014) Because of the War in Donbas (2014–2022), war in Donbas and the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, unilateral annexation of Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
by Russia elections were not held in Crimea and also not in large parts of Donbas, both were before stronghold of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine.[Ukraine crisis: President calls snap vote amid fighting](_blank)
BBC News (25 August 2014)[Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe](_blank)
by Uwe Backes and Patrick Moreau (political scientist), Patrick Moreau, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, (page 396)[Ukraine right-wing politics: is the genie out of the bottle?](_blank)
openDemocracy.net (January 3, 2011)[Eight Reasons Why Ukraine’s Party of Regions Will Win the 2012 Elections](_blank)
by Taras Kuzio, The Jamestown Foundation (17 October 2012)
UKRAINE: Yushchenko needs Tymoshenko as ally again
by Taras Kuzio, Oxford Analytica (5 October 2007)
Pro-Russian movements in Ukraine
In 2014, there were political parties and movements in Ukraine that advocated a pro-Russian policy, and pro-Russian political organizations. Many of these were opposed to Ukrainian independence and openly advocated for the restoration of the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
.[ Few in number, they generated media coverage and political commentary.
The actions organized by these organizations are most visible in the Ukrainian part of historic ]Novorossiya
Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...
(''New Russia'') in the south of Ukraine and in the Crimea, a region in which in some areas Russians are the largest ethnic group. As ethnic Russians constitute a significant part of the population in these largely Russophone
This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of Derus ...
parts of southern Ukraine (and a majority in the Crimea),[ these territories maintain particularly strong historic ties with Russia on the human level. Thus, a stronger than elsewhere in the country pro-Russian political sentiment makes the area a more fertile ground for the radical pro-Russian movements that are not as common elsewhere in the country.
As of December 2009 clashes between Ukrainian nationalism, Ukrainian nationalists and pro-Russian organisations do sometimes take place.
]
Organizations
Among such movements are the youth organizations, the Proryv (literally the ''Breakthrough'') and the Eurasian Youth Union, Eurasian Youth Movement (ESM).[Mykyta Kasianenko,]
Without provocateurs and Russophobes Crimea seeking solutions to Ukrainian-Russian problems
, ''Den (newspaper), Den'', 13 August 2007 Both movements' registration and legal status have been challenged in courts; and the leader of Proryv, a Russian citizen, was expelled from Ukraine, declared ''persona non grata'' and barred from entering the country again. Alexander Dugin, the Moscow-based leader of the ESM and his associate Pavel Zariffulin have also been barred from travelling to Ukraine because of their involvement in the activities of these organizations, although bans have been later lifted and reinstated again.
These movements openly state their mission as the disintegration of Ukraine and restoration of Russia within the borders of the former Russian Empire[Радикальные русские маргиналы хотят разделить Украину по Сталину](_blank)
''Ukrayinska Pravda'', July 18, 2006 and, reportedly, have received regular encouragement and monetary support from Russia's politically connected businessmen.[Андреас Умланд]
Фашистский друг Витренко
''Ukrainska Pravda'' 26.09.2006 These organizations have been known not only for their pro-Russian activities, but have been also accused of organising massive acts of protest.[2007 РБК-Україн�]
При штурмі СБУ в Києві арештовано 10 активістів ЄСМ
14.06.2006
Some observers point out the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church's support of these movements and parties in Ukraine, especially in Crimea.[The Sunday Time]
Once more into the valley of death?
October 24, 2004 The publications and protest actions of these organizations feature strongly pro-Russian and radically anti-NATO messages, invoking the rhetoric of "Ukrainian-Russian historic unity", "NATO criminality", and other similar claims.
Some observers link the resurgence of radical Russian organizations in Ukraine with Moscow Kremlin, Kremlin's fear that the Orange Revolution in Ukraine could be exported to Russia, and addressing that possibility has been at the forefront of these movements' activities.[Andriy Okara, "New Ukrainian Oprichnina, or what is in common "PORA", neoeuro-Asians, Ivan the Terrible and Yulia Tymoshenko", ''Zerkalo Nedeli'', March 12–18, 2005]
In Russian
in Ukrainian
.
"Russian marches"
As a branch of a similar Russian organization the Eurasian Youth Union (ESM) has been organizing annual Russian march, Russian Marches. The November 2006 "Russian march" in Kyiv, the capital, gathered 40 participants, but after the participants attacked the riot police, it was forced to interfere and several participants from were arrested.["Вместе с бабой – семь человек"::Киевская милиция пообщалась с участниками "Русского марша"](_blank)
''Kommersant-Ukraine'', November 6, 2006
In Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
and Crimean cities the November 2006 "Russian marches" drew more participants, with 150–200 participants in Odesa,[ and 500 in ]Simferopol
Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...
[ and went more peacefully. The marchers were calling for the History of Christianity in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Church unity as well as the national unity between Russia and Ukraine. In Odesa the march of about 200 people carried anti-Western, pro-Russian slogans and religious symbols.]
Public opinion
In March 2022, shortly after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine, a poll found that 82% of ethnic Russians living in Ukraine said they did not believe that any part of Ukraine was rightfully part of Russia. The poll did not involve respondents from Crimea or the separatist-controlled part of Donbas. 65% of Ukrainians—including 88% of those of Russian ethnicity—agreed that "despite our differences there is more that unites ethnic Russians living in Ukraine and Ukrainians than divides us".
Notable Ukrainians of full or partial Russian ancestry
Actors
* Boryslav Brondukov (of mixed Polish-Russian ancestry)
* Yuri Sergeevich Lavrov
* Nikolay Olyalin
Architects
* Andrey Kvasov
Artists and sculptors
* Evgeniy Chuikov
* Victor Palmov
Businesspeople
* Vadim Novinsky - Billionaire, also of Armenian descent
Engineers
* Oleg Antonov (aircraft designer), Oleg Antonov, Soviet Union, Soviet aircraft designer and painter, the founder of Antonov, Antonov ASTC.
* Pyotr Gorlov, geologist and engineer who explored many of the mines in the Donbas region of Ukraine. He founded the city of Horlivka.
* Vasiliy Karazin, intellectual, inventor, and scientific publisher in Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
. He is the founder of Kharkiv University, which now bears his name, also of distant Serbian origin.
* Sergei Alekseyevich Lebedev, scientist in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science, and designer of the first Soviet computers.
* Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov, engineer and tank designer.
* Anatoly Dyatlov, Soviet engineer who was the deputy chief engineer for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
* Leonid Toptunov, Soviet electrical engineer who was the senior reactor control chief engineer at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986
* Aleksandr Akimov, Soviet engineer who was the supervisor of the shift that worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 on the night of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 April 1986
* Nikolai Fomin (engineer), Nikolai Fomin, chief engineer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from 1981 until the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986
* Viktor Bryukhanov, manager of construction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the director of the plant from 1970 to 1986
Literature
* Fyodor Berezin, Russian-language science fiction writer and Deputy Minister of Defence of the Donetsk People's Republic.
* Mikhail Bulgakov
* Pavlo Kazarin, bilingual journalist and publicist
* Andrey Kurkov
* Yevgeni Petrov (writer), Yevgeni Petrov
* Vladislav Adolfovitch Rusanov, Russian-language science fiction writer and chairman of the Donetsk People's Republic Writer's Union.
* Vladislav Rusanov (writer), Vladislav Rusanov
Military
* Oleksander Hrekov, Commander-in-chief of the army of the West Ukrainian National Republic during the Polish-Ukrainian War and architect of the Chortkiv offensive in which the Ukrainian Galician Army advanced 120 km against the Polish army.
* Ivan Konev, Soviet Union, Soviet military commander, who led Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
forces on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, liberated much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Nazi Germany, Germany's capital, Berlin.
* Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet Union, Soviet Military of the Soviet Union, military commander and Politics of the Soviet Union, politician of mixed Ukrainians, Ukrainian and Russians, Russian ethnicity.
* Vasily Zaitsev (sniper), Vasily Zaitsev, Soviet sniper during World War II
* Ihor Lapin, commander of the Special Forces Battalion of the First Separate Special Forces Brigade, named after Ivan Bohun
* Mykhailo Bolotskykh, military serviceman, Colonel General (Civil Defense Service)
* Eduard Moskaliov, major general of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
* Oleksandr Syrskyi, Soviet and Ukrainian military commander
Music
* Vitas, singer
* Leff Pouishnoff, pianist
* Sergei Prokofiev, composer
* Vadim Pruzhanov, keyboardist
* Hanna Syedokova, singer
* Dasha Astafieva, model, singer, and actress
* Artem Pyvovarov, new wave singer and composer
* Ivan Dorn, singer
Politicians
* Mykola Azarov, former prime minister and finance minister of Ukraine of mixed Russians, Russian (by mother) and Estonians, Estonian (by father) ethnicity.
* Raisa Bogatyrova, Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, and a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian parliament.
* Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (and thus political leader of the Soviet Union, USSR) from 1964 to 1982.
* Lyudmyla Denisova, current minister of labor and social policy of Ukraine.
* Dmytro Razumkov, former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (from August 2019 to 7 October 2021)
* Oleksandr Turchynov, politician, screenwriter, Baptist minister and economist
* Oleg Tsaryov, former people's deputy of Ukraine elected for the Party of Regions in 2002, who was expelled from the party on 7 April 2014
* Oleksandr Sukhov, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 107th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Ivan Herasymov, the oldest member of the Verkhovna Rada until his death.
* Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, and Premier of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Soviet Union), Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.
* Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2014-2019)
* Dmytro Lunin, businessman and statesman, who served as the acting governor of Poltava Oblast 24 December 2021 to 10 October 2023
* Yevhen Kushnaryov, former mayor of Kharkov, Governor of the Kharkov Oblast, Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine, and Deputy to the Verkhovna Rada.
* Oleksandr Novikov, law enforcement officer, former Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) from 2020 to 2024, former prosecutor since 2004, including at the Office of the Prosecutor General from 2012 to 2020
* Anatoly Lunacharsky
* Volodymyr Puzakov
* Fyodor Sergeyev, head of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic
* Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov, Army Commander of the Odessa Soviet Republic
* Innokentiy Kozhevnikov, People's Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic
* Andrei Zhdanov
* Volodymyr Horbulin, Secretary of National Security and Defense Council (1994–1999, 2006)
* Andrei Ivanov (Bolshevik), Andrei Ivanov, member of the Presidium and the secretary of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and a delegate of the XII and XIII Party Congresses
* Yevhen Kushnaryov, a chief ideologue of the Party of Regions and a key ally of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
* Oleh Shapovalov, member of the Party of Regions, who served as President of the Kharkiv Oblast Council from 2005 to 2006
* Hennadiy Balashov, leader of 5.10 political party
* Volodymyr Petrov, candidate for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election
* Valeriy Baranov, People's Deputy of Ukraine (2007–2012)
* Ihor Markov, founder and chairman of the Rodina Party and is a former deputy of Ukrainian parliament as a member of the Party of Regions faction
* Serhiy Lyovochkin, formerly a member of the Parliament of Ukraine
* Yuliya Lyovochkina, People's Deputy, served in the Verkhovna Rada from 2007 to 2022
* Serhiy Teryokhin, Minister of Economy of Ukraine from 4 February to 27 September 2005, Batkivshchyna Party member
* Vyacheslav Ovechkin, 1st Deputy Head of the Odesa Regional State Administration
* Andriy Klyuyev, 2nd Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine
* Serhiy Sobolev, member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and acting Batkivshchyna faction leader
* Yevheniy Murayev, leader of the now-banned political party Nashi
* Vladimir Maltsev, People's Deputy of Ukraine, member of the Party of Regions (since November 2007), a member of the Committee on Justice (December 2007)
* Volodymyr Malyshev, colonel-general of militia of Ukraine, People's deputy of Ukraine of the V-th, VI-th, VII-th convocations (2006-2014), Doctor of Law (2013), Honored Lawyer of Ukraine (1997)
* Ihor Yeremeyev, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 4th, 7th and 8th convocation (non-partisan, Chairman of the Deputy Group "People's Will")
* Serhiy Klyuyev, businessman and a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament
* Ivan Fedorov (politician), Ivan Fedorov, politician who was appointed Governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in February 2024
* Viktor Tikhonov (politician), Viktor Tikhonov, ambassador to Belarus from 2011 to 2012
* Mariya Ionova, politician of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc
* Spiridon Kilinkarov, pro-Russian politician who served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from the Communist Party of Ukraine from 2006 to 2014
* Oleksandr Mochkov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 7th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada
* Ihor Prasolov, Minister of Economical Development and Trade of Ukraine from 24 December 2012 to 27 February 2014
* Glib Prygunov, and former chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...
Council
* Volodymyr Polochaninov, former people's deputy
* Oleksandr Ponomaryov (politician), Oleksandr Ponomaryov, People's Deputy of Ukraine since 12 December 2012 from Ukraine's 78th electoral district, representing south-eastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast
* Ihor Rainin, former governor of Kharkiv Oblast
* Oleksiy Danilov, politician who was the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine from 2019 to 2024
* Volodymyr Hrynyov, People's Deputy of Ukraine (1990-1994)
* Anton Polyakov, member of the party Servant of the People (until December 2019), he served in the Verkhovna Rada from 2019 to 2021
* Oleh Dyomin, Ambassador of Ukraine to China (2013–2019)
* Andriy Kozhemiakin, politician and a former security service officer
* Kseniya Lyapina, Deputy chairman of the party "For Ukraine!", and head of the Kyiv regional organization (since 2009)
* Vitaliy Shubin, Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection (10 March 2020 – 16 April 2020)
* Serhiy Kunitsyn, member of the Ukrainian parliament as an independent politician for Petro Poroshenko Bloc
* Nina Yuzhanina, People's Deputy of Ukraine since the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
* Serhiy Kaplin, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIIth (candidate from UDAR) and VIIIth (candidate from Petro Poroshenko Bloc) convocations, and the leader of the Social Democratic Party
* Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv since 11 November 2021
* Oleksiy Azarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance and Banking, People's Deputy of Ukraine, and a member of the Party of Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada of the VII convocation
* Serhii Kivalov, politician and jurist who served as the head of Central Election Commission during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which led to the Orange Revolution
* Iryna Venediktova, Prosecutor General of Ukraine (17 March 2020 – 19 July 2022)
* Iryna Suslova, People's Deputy of Ukraine (27 November 2014 – 29 August 2019)
* Oleksandr Yefremov, former parliamentarian and politician
* Borys Filatov, current mayor of Dnipro
Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
* Oleksandr Volkov (politician), Oleksandr Volkov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 3rd, 4th and 7th convocations
* Oleh Tatarov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine
* Oleh Tarasov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation
* Maksym Stepanov, Minister of Healthcare (30 March 2020 – 18 May 2021)
* Serhii Shakhov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of since 2016
* Andriy Smyrnov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine from September 2019 until March 2024
* Oleh Nemchinov, 20th Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers
* Andrii Viktorovych Simonov, mayor of Pyriatyn (since October 25, 2020)
* Andrii Gordieiev, politician, people's deputy of Ukraine of the VIIIth convocation
* Vadym Merikov, former People's Deputy of Ukraine and served as the governor of the Mykolaiv Oblast from July 28, 2014 to June 29, 2016
* Pavlo Lebedyev, Minister of Defense of Ukraine from 2012 to 2014
* Hennadiy Vasilyev, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th convocations
* Yurii Shapovalov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 7th, 8th and 9th convocations
* Kostyantyn Morozov, first Minister of Defence of Ukraine following its 1991 declaration of independence
* Valeriy Shmarov, the third Minister of Defence of Ukraine (1994-1996)
* Igor Alekseyev (politician), Igor Alekseyev, Member of the Verkhovna Rada (March 31, 2002 – October 26, 2014)
* Dmytro Salamatin, Minister of Defense of Ukraine from 8 February 2012 to 24 December 2012
* Pavlo Kuznietsov, Member of the Verkhovna Rada (12 May 1998 – 14 May 2002)
* Oleksandr Kubrakov, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine (2021-2024)
* Vitaliy Danilov, former member of Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada)
* Vitaliy Chuhunnikov, Governor of Rivne Oblast
Rivne Oblast (), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is . Its population is:
Before its annexation by the ...
(2014–2016)
* Heorhiy Kryuchkov, member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and later the Communist Party of Ukraine, he served in the Verkhovna Rada from 1998 to 2006
* Mykhailo Chechetov, former first deputy head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction; and de facto its Chief Whip
* Andrii Kholodov, businessman and politician and former People's Deputy of Ukraine (in the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada)
* Oleksiy Kostusyev, former mayor of Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
* Svitlana Shatalova, political figure and who was the deputy governor of Odesa Oblast
Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...
* Vyacheslav Boguslayev, member of the Party of Regions
* Gennadiy Trukhanov, mayor of Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
* Pavlo Frolov, member of the Ukrainian Parliament of the 9th convocation from the Servant of the People party
* Yuriy Zbitnyev, candidate in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, nominated by the "New Power" Party
* Vitold Fokin, served as the first Prime Minister of Ukraine from the country's independence on 24 August 1991 to 1 October 1992
* Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of the Department of the National Police of Ukraine from February 2022 to February 2023
* Serhiy Arbuzov, former banker and politician who briefly served as acting prime minister of Ukraine from 28 January to 22 February 2014
* Alexander Rutskoy, Russian politician and former Soviet military officer who served as the only vice president of Russia from 1991 to 1993
* Vladyslav Bukhariev, politician and intelligence officer who served as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine from June to September 2019
* Serhii Bunin, politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 98th electoral district in Kyiv Oblast
* Andrey Kurbsky, political opponent of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible (1533–1584)
* Vasiliy Averin, Bolshevik revolutionary, a leading member of the Cheka and a member of the Soviet government in Ukraine
* Vasiliy Mantsev, Chairman of the Ukraine Cheka
* Aleksandr Uspensky, People's Commissar for Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR
* Ivan Serov, People's Commissar for Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR
* Aleksei Brovkin, Minister of Interior of UkrSSR
* Yuriy Smirnov (minister), Yuriy Smirnov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in 2001–2003
* Raisa Bohatyriova, politician and former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Health
* Oleksander Shulhyn, diplomat who played a key role in establishing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (1917-1918)
* Georgiy Afanasyev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian State (1918)
* Aleksandr Kharitonov (politician), Aleksandr Kharitonov, Former People's Deputy of Ukraine
* Mykhailo Papiyev, former Minister of Labour and Social Policy, serving from 2002 to 2005 and from 2006 to 2007.
* Ivan Lyakhov (politician), Ivan Lyakhov, Member of the Verkhovna Rada (1990–1994)
* Mykola Popov, Member of the Verkhovna Rada from 1990 to 1994
* Serhiy Yefremov, the deputy head of the Central Council of Ukraine (1917)
* Iryna Akimova, politician and former First Deputy Head of Presidential Administration of Ukraine
* Hanna Antonieva, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 3rd and 4th convocationsconvocations
* Volodymyr Ariev, Member of Parliament of Ukraine since 2007, chairman of Ukrainian delegation in Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2015–2019, PACE Vice-President (2015, 2018), President of PACE Committee for Culture, Education, Science and Media (2016–2017)
* Stanislav Arzhevitin, Chairman of the Association of Ukrainian Banks, and People's Deputy of Verkhovna Rada
* Aleksey Baburin, People's Deputy of Ukraine, and member of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Verkhovna Radas, member of the Communist Party of Ukraine
* Anatolii Brezvin, Member of the Kyiv City Council (1998–2014)
* Nina Karpachova, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights from 1998 until 2012
* Borys Kolesnikov, leader of the political party Ukraine is Our Home
* Vitaliy Kononov, environmental activist who served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from the Party of Greens of Ukraine from 1998 to 2002, heading the party's electoral list
* Vyacheslav Boguslayev, engineer, businessman, and politician, former member of the Party of Regions, People's Deputy of Ukraine from 2006 to 2019
* Pavlo Burlakov, Member of the Liberal Party of Ukraine (1995–2005)
* Ivan Gerasymov, former deputy in the Verkhovna Rada, was a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine
* Yurii Karmazin, politician and judge, served four terms as a People's Deputy of Ukraine
* Leonid Klimov, member of the Party of Regions in Verkhovna Rada (from November 2007) and a member of the Committee on National Security and Defense (from December 2007)
* Serhiy Larin, member of the Ukrainian parliament since 1998 for the People's Democratic Party, For United Ukraine! (2002), Party of Regions (2006, 2007), Opposition Bloc (2014), and Opposition Platform — For Life (2019)
* Mykhailo Pozhyvanov, politician who served as the Deputy Minister of Economy from 2008 to 2010
* Andriy Portnov, Member of Parliament (25 May 2006 – 16 April 2010)
* Viktor Topolov, 6th Minister of Coal Industry of Ukraine (18 August 2005 – 4 August 2006)
* Yuriy Chertkov, people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine V (2006–2007), VI (2007–2012), and VII (2012–2014) convocations, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (since 12.2007)
* Oleksandr Tretiakov, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th convocations
* Maksym Polyakov, politician, economist and public figure, served on Uman City Council as Deputy Mayor for Economic Activities from 2011 to 2012
* Artur Herasymov, the leader of the then-Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction from 2017 to 2019
* Olga Bielkova, former Member of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) from 2012 until June 2020
* Olha Chervakova, People's Deputy of Ukraine in the eighth convocation
* Yehor Soboliev, elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, appearing 13th on the party list of Self Reliance
* Tetiana Ostrikova, member of parliament of Ukraine of the 8th convocation, Member of the parliamentary faction Samopomich Union
* Anna Romanova, former Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, member of the parliamentary faction Samopomich Union, former deputy mayor of Chernihiv
* Oleksiy Ryabchyn, People's Deputy of Ukraine (27 November 2014 – 24 July 2019), Deputy Minister for Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine (12 October 2019 – 27 May 2020)
* Ihor Zhdanov, politician who served as the Minister of Youth and Sports in both the Yatsenyuk Government and in the Groysman Government
* Tetiana Rychkova, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 27th electoral district from 2016 to 2019
* Oleh Kryshyn, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation
* Maxim Efimov, former People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 48th electoral district from 2014 to December 2023
* Volodymyr Areshonkov, People's Deputy of Ukraine and Honored Worker of Education of Ukraine (2017)
* Anastasiya Radina, politician who is a who is currently a member of the Verkhovna Rada since 29 August 2019 from the Servant of the People party
* Yehor Cherniev, People's Deputy of Ukraine from the Servant of the People party in the Verkhovna Rada, number 26 on the party's list
* Maryna Bardina, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation
*Yulia Ovchynnykova, People's Deputy of Ukraine from the "Servant of the People" party
* Denys Maslov, judge, lawyer, politician and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy (since July 2022)
* Oleh Voloshyn, political pundit on 112 Ukraine, politician, and former government official under Ukrainian prime ministers Mykola Azarov and Viktor Yanukovych
* Tetiana Plachkova, People's Deputy elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2019
* Kostyantyn Bondaryev, People's Deputy of Verkhovna Rada.
* Oleksandra Ustinova, public activist serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from the proportional list of the Holos party since 2019
* Serhiy Rakhmanin, journalist and politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine on the proportional list of the Holos party since 2019
* Andriy Sharaskin, People's Deputy of Ukraine from the proportional list of the Holos party since 2020
* Iryna Borzova, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the IX convocation
* Viacheslav Rublyov, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 20th electoral district since 29 August 2019 as a member of Servant of the People
* Andriy Aksyonov, member of the Verkhovna Rada, the national parliament of Ukraine
* Oleksandr Kovalov, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 51st electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Serhiy Kuzminykh, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 67th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Maryna Nikitina, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 82nd electoral district as a member of Servant of the People since 2019
* Oleksiy Kuznyetsov, politician and businessman, who is currently a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation
* Oleksandr Lukashev, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 113th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Ihor Kopytin, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 129th electoral district as a member of Servant of the People since 2019
* Artem Chornomorov, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 131st electoral district as a member of Servant of the People since 2019
* Maksym Dyrdin, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 132nd electoral district, as a member of Servant of the People since 2019
* Oleh Koliev, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 134th electoral district from Servant of the People since 2019
* Oleksiy Leonov, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 162nd electoral district from Servant of the People since 29 August 2019
* Serhiy Koleboshyn, People's Deputy of Ukraine, representing Ukraine's 140th electoral district as a member of Servant of the People since 29 August 2019
* Dmytro Nalotov, People's Deputy of Ukraine representing Ukraine's 144th electoral district from Servant of the People since 2019
* Maksym Berezin, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 151st electoral district in northern Poltava Oblast since 2019
* Roman Ivanisov, politician and convicted child rapist currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 153rd electoral district since 29 August 2019, at first as a member of Servant of the People and currently as an independent since 2019
* Ihor Serhiyovych Vasylyev, politician, in 2019 elected for the Servant of the People in the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada
* Maria Mezentseva, politician, was elected to Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, in 2019
* Oleksandr Bakumov, Ukrainian soldier, professor, and politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 173rd electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Yevhen Pyvovarov, professor and politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 175th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Oleksiy Krasov, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 180th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Volodymyr Ivanov (politician, born 1982), Volodymyr Ivanov, People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 185th electoral district since 29 August 2019
* Mykhailo Fedorov, politician and businessman, served as a Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Digital Transformation from 2019 to March 2023
* Ihor Kolykhaiev, former People's Deputy of Ukraine, elected in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election
* Sergey Kozlov (politician), military officer and politician
* Gennadiy Tsypkalov, political and military figure
* Aleksandr Bednov, former Soviet and Ukrainian militsiya officer
* Alexander Khodakovsky - politician
* Aleksey Mozgovoy - military commander
* Andriy Kostin, People's Deputy of Ukraine elected in 2019
Scientists
* Nikolai Amosov, heart surgery, surgeon and inventor.
* Nikolay Bogolyubov, mathematician and theoretical physics, theoretical physicist known for his work in statistical field theory and dynamical systems
* Nikolai Chebotaryov, mathematician.
* Vladimir Filatov, ophthalmologist and surgery, surgeon best known for his development of tissue therapy. He introduced the tube flap grafting method, corneal transplantation and preservation of grafts from cadaver eyes. He founded The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy in Odessa.
* Svyatoslav Fyodorov, ophthalmology, ophthalmologist, Eye surgery, eye microsurgeon, creator of radial keratotomy, professor, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and politician.
* George Gamow, physicist and cosmologist.
* Victor Glushkov, founding father of information technology in the Soviet Union, and one of the founders of Cybernetics.
* Nikolay Mitrofanovich Krylov, mathematician.
* Yuri I. Manin, mathematician.
* Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, microbiologist of Jewish, Moldovans, Moldovan, and Russian descent.
* Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov, scientist, physician, doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847). He is considered to be the founder of field surgery, and was one of the first surgeons in Europe to use ether as an anaesthetic. He was the first surgeon to use anaesthesia in a field operation (1847), invented various kinds of surgical operations, and developed his own technique of using orthopedic cast, plaster casts to treat fractured bones.
* Aleksei Pogorelov, mathematician
* Vladimir Porfiriev, geologist
* Nikolai Pylchykov, physicist, inventor, and geologist
* Sergey Reformatsky, chemist
* Lev Shubnikov, experimental physicist
* Cyril Sinelnikov, nuclear physicist
* Yurii Dmitrievich Sokolov, mathematician
* Pyotr Valentinovich Trusov, physicist
* Valentyna Astakhova, historian, doctor of historical sciences (1981), professor (1983), academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of Ukraine (2004), advisor to the rector, former rector of Kharkiv Humanitarian University People's Ukrainian Academy
Sportspeople
* Oleg Blokhin, Ukraine, Ukrainian football (soccer), football Coach (sport), coach of mixed Ukrainians, Ukrainian (by mother) and Russians, Russian (by father) ethnicity who was formerly a Striker (association football), striker for the USSR national football team. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1975.
* Yelizaveta Bryzghina, Ukraine, Ukrainian sprint athlete.
* Yana Klochkova, swimming (sport), swimmer, who has won five Olympic medals in her career, with four of them being gold.
* Viktor Kolotov, FC Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national football team goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. UEFA Euro 1972 runner-up.
* Mykyta Krylov, Nikita Krylov, UFC fighter.
* Yevhen Rudakov, FC Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national football team goalkeeper. UEFA Euro 1972 runner-up.
* Serhiy Kuznetsov (footballer, born 1982), Serhiy Kuznetsov, football coach
* Serhiy Kuznetsov (footballer, born 1963), Serhiy Kuznetsov, former professional footballer who played as a defender
* Oleg Oshenkov, head coach of the Ukraine national team at the Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR
* Denys Filimonov, former football forward
* Vladimir Dobrikov, Master Sports of the USSR, Honored coach of the RSFSR.
* Artem Favorov, football striker
* Denys Favorov, football defender
* Roman Monaryov, retired footballer and current manager
* Oleksandr Ilyuschenkov, football goalkeeper who plays for Karpaty Lviv
* Yehor Kartushov, football midfielder who plays for Karpaty Lviv
* Denys Kozhanov, football midfielder who plays for Karpaty Lviv
* Yuriy Ovcharov, football goalkeeper
* Viktor Arefyev, football forward
* Mykola Fominykh, chief of the Football Department of the Sports Committee of Ukrainian SSR
* Oleksandr Kosyrin, former football forward
* Oleksiy Antyukhin, professional footballer
* Viktor Zhylin, football defender
* Volodymyr Zhylin, retired Soviet football player
* Oleksandr Deriberin, retired Soviet footballer
* Adolf Poskotin, football player and coach
* Ihor Nadein, Merited Coach of Ukraine
* Valentin Tugarin, Soviet football manager
* Yukhym Shkolnykov, football coach
* Yuriy Hruznov, Soviet football goalkeeper
* Oleksandr Shchanov, football defender, forward, and manager
* Boris Streltsov, football forward
* Oleksandr Ivanov, professional football coach and a former player
* Oleksiy Ivanov, former football midfielder
* Pavlo Parshyn, football forward
* Yehor Ivanov, football striker who plays for FC Poltava in the Ukrainian First League
* Artem Ivanov (draughts player), Artem Ivanov, player in the International draughts and draughts-64
* Artem Ivanov (weightlifter), Artem Ivanov, weightlifter
* Vitaliy Sidorov (discus thrower), Vitaliy Sidorov, retired discus thrower, who represented Ukraine (1996) at the Summer Olympics
* Andriy Lunin, professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Ukraine national team
* Elina Svitolina, tennis player
* Anhelina Kalinina, tennis player
* Yuliia Starodubtseva, tennis player
* Ekaterina Serebrianskaya, rhythmic gymnast, Olympic champion.
* Andriy Nesmachnyi, Ukrainian football defender (soccer), defender.
* Alexander Volkov (basketball), Alexander Volkov, one of the founders of BC Kiev, former basketball player.
* Yuriy Voynov, FC Dynamo Kyiv and USSR national football team midfielder. UEFA Euro 1960 winner.
* Andriy Voronin, Ukraine, Ukrainian striker of mixed Ukrainian Jews, Jewish and Russian ancestry.
* Alexander Vyukhin, ice hockey goaltender who last played for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. He perished in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster outside of Yaroslavl, Russia.
* Denys Sylantyev, retired swimmer
* Oleksandr Litvinov, professional footballer who plays as a right-back for FC Dinaz Vyshhorod
* Anna Zatonskih, chess player who holds the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM)
* Ruslan Ponomariov, chess grandmaster
* Artur Frolov, chess International Master (1991)
* Vladimir Tukmakov, chess grandmaster
* Igor Novikov (chess player), chess grandmaster
* Anton Korobov, chess grandmaster
* Valeriy Neverov, chess grandmaster (1991) and four-time Ukrainian Chess Champion (1983, 1985, 1988, 1996)
* Andrei Volokitin, chess grandmaster
* Natalia Zhukova, chess grandmaster and two-time European women's champion
* Lidia Semenova, chess player, who holds the title of woman grandmaster
* Anna Ushenina, chess grandmaster who was Women's World Chess Champion from November 2012 to September 2013
* Sergey Karjakin, chess grandmaster
Other
* Vladlen Tatarsky - blogger
* Valery Bolotov - militant
* Alexey Stakhanov, legendary miner.
* Yaroslav Trofimov, journalist
* Volodymyr Zolkin, journalist
* Victoria Roshchyna, journalist
* Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, photojournalist, journalist, media and social activist,
* Anastasia Baburova, assassinated journalist
* Oleh Sentsov, filmmaker, writer and activist
* Denis Ivanov (filmmaker), Denis Ivanov, producer, film distributor, cultural manager, TV presenter, head of the Arthouse Traffic film company, member of the European Film Academy and National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, founder of the Odesa International Film Festival and «Children Kinofest» – International Film Festival for children and teenagers (Ukraine)
* Leonid Bykov, Soviet actor, film director, and script writer
* Vitaly Zholobov, retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on Soyuz 21 space flight as the flight engineer
See also
* List of Ukrainians of Russian ethnicity
* Russian language in Ukraine
* Russification of Ukraine
* Chronology of Ukrainian language suppression
* Internationalism or Russification?
* Derussification in Ukraine
* Ukrainianization
* Demographics of Ukraine
* Demographic history of Crimea
* Russian Cultural Center in Lviv
* Anti-Russian sentiment#Ukraine, Anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine
* Ukrainians in Russia
* Polish minority in Ukraine
References
External links
Russian community in Ukraine
Russian movement in Ukraine
Russian Donbas
VasinList.com
– Russian Community and Classifieds in Kyiv, Odesa & Lviv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russians In Ukraine
Russians in Ukraine,
Ethnic groups in Ukraine
Russian diaspora by country, Ukraine
Russia–Ukraine relations