DISINFO: The term “Ukraine” is the legacy of the Polish colonialism
SUMMARY
The decolonization of Ukraine should be set as a political goal [for Russia]. The term Ukraine has always been a term of colonizers, it was a synonym for the term the “Russian lands colonized by Poland situated on the outskirts of Poland”. Therefore, Russia should completely abandon the positive use of the term Ukraine and use the historical names of these lands. The term Ukraine should be understood as the legacy of Polish, German and American colonialism.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin recurrent narrative denying Ukrainian statehood and justifying the unprovoked full scale military aggression of the country.
Russia's military invasion is not a civil war, but a brutal aggression against a sovereign state and a clear violation of international law. Ukraine is defending itself acting as a state and member of the UN in accordance with the UN Charter Article 51 on self defence.
Ukrainian and Russian are two distinct people, despite multiple attempts of the Kremlin to deny it. Ukraine is a well-defined nation-state with a long history and its literature and identity, despite foreign rule for long periods. Ukrainians and Russians belong to the Slavs ethnolinguistic group, but they are not a single nation. The "all-Russian big nation" is an imperial Russian and Russian revanchist ideology that is a favoured pro-Kremlin narrative aimed at weakening the national identity of Ukrainians, as well as undermining the state sovereignty. Read more in our article One Nation Myth.
Read also related cases: Ukraine’s statehood is legal nonsense, or Russia is defending territories that have been part of it for centuries, or Russians and Ukrainians are one people, or Russians and Ukrainians are one people, or Russians (Great Russians) and Ukrainians (Little Russians) are one people, or Ukrainians and Russians are one people, or Ukrainians and Russians are practically one people.