Originally Posted by
Kokolums
I was reading about the history of the region recently.
Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia all claim the Ukraine (or Kievan Rus) as their cultural heritage. So the entire Rus or "Russian" heritage stems from Ukraine. In fact, the term "Kievan Rus" only was coined in the 19th century. Before that, the Ukraine was called "Land of the Rus". The center of Russian / Rus culture was the Ukraine. Kievan Rus was established in 882 AD.
Kievan Rus went through a golden age but entered a decline due to some infighting and the decline of its main trading partner, Constantinople. But the major blow was the invasion of the Mongol "Golden Horde" in the 1200s. The entire area was utterly conquered as the Mongols would push even further west into eastern Europe. The Region was effectively partitioned into Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus -- cultural distinctions that emerged then (forced by the Mongols) which survive to this day.
Russia itself was originally a Ukrainian construct. Ukrainians invaded Russia, conquered the Finnish tribes living there, and established what would become the Kingdom of Muscovy. The entire Rurik Dynasty and later Romanov dynasty that would found Moscow and the Kremlin, build it up and eventually become the Tsars, were all Ukrainians. Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great were all Ukrainians. Muscovy eventually expanded vastly into what we call today Russia.