DISINFO: Ukraine was created by the USSR on ethnic Russian lands
SUMMARY
Ukraine has never been a state. Ukraine as a state was created by the Soviet Union. The USSR developed it economically and gave it ethnic Russian lands.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative designed to revise the history of Ukraine, Ukrainian statehood and its independence. To deprive Ukraine of right to exist. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is recognised in international law as a sovereign nation-state with its own flag, nationality, language and with a democratically elected president and parliament.
The history of Ukraine dates back to the era of the Kyivan Rus’ in the 9th-13th centuries. In the early 20th century, after the collapse of the Russian empire, the Ukrainian People’s Republic (aka the Ukrainian National Republic) was proclaimed, simultaneously with other nations, like Georgia, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1917, fierce attempts were made to re-establish Russian control over the newly independent states. Moscow created "Soviet Republics" in order to mimic national independence. Soviet Russia managed to take control over Ukraine and established a Bolshevik regime. Moscow performed aggressive anti-Ukrainian policies, exterminating the population during famines, battling the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture.
A fully independent Ukraine only emerged in the late 20th century. When the Soviet Union began to unravel in 1990–1991, the legislature of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declared sovereignty (16 July 1990) and then outright independence (24 August 1991). Present-day Ukraine has been on the world map since 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated. It has elected six presidents since then and changed parties in government several times, which illustrates political diversity and democratic dynamics.
In violation of international law, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, illegally annexing the peninsula of Crimea and instigating a separatist revolt in some parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine was created by Vladimir Lenin and that Ukraine was artificially created by the Bolsheviks.