Wednesday, July 19, 2023

How to better reorganize Ukraine


I will start the post-Soviet borders series with Ukraine. However I will also cover some areas from Russia. Current Russia-Ukraine borders dissect many natural geographic regions in half. The only way to do them justice is to unite them into their own new countries. I will outline these countries in the second half of this post. As I will begin with Ukraine proper.

Overview of Ukraine

Problem with Ukraine is not that it lacks statehood or nationhood as some pro-Russian patriots claim. Rather current Ukraine is a amalgamation of several different nations, who have little in common with each other. Because of that they cannot understand each other at all.

They fight for control of the country in order to turn it towards their interests. However, no matter who wins the other side is left dissatisfied and ends up plotting comeback or a coup.

The simplest division is division in two halves. As for example [residential elections of 2004, similar results happen during 2006 parliamentary and 2010 presidential elections. Only recent Zelenskiy's victories somehow managed to partly remove this division.


In fact, even names of the political parties of election opponents do suggest their different visions for the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Ukrainian_presidential_election

Yuschenko's Our Ukraine, colored in orange, suggest patriotism and care for the country. They truly believe in their country and want to assert its independence and identity. Russia likes to label everyone who shares this sentiment a Nazi. Moscow scares Russophone part of the country that 'Nazi' plan to exterminate all the Russophones in the country and uses it to justify its aggression.

Yanukovich's Party of Regions often labelled as pro-Russian, but it is more of a parochial local interest's party. They are mostly united by common opposition to any central authority and very heterogeneous inside. Some of them are pro-Russian and Russia likes to exploit their opposition to Kyiv in Moscow's interests.

Middle areas (colored in lighter shades of each color) have somewhat diffused views on the whole identity issue and often serve as a moderating effect that somewhat connects the country together. 

Each of these regions deserve a separate section of the article to outline their history and how did they become what they are.

Ukraine proper

I will begin with orange-colored areas. It would be appropriate to call this area Ukraine proper. It is the area of country's identity, culture and language. Its cities are century old. It has history, self-awareness and shared identity and values. These areas went through good and bad times mostly together and emerged with shared identity, values and destiny.

This part of a country had a rich history that explains how it became this way, you can read about it here

Its history is mostly of preservice. They got betrayed by their neighbors many times and sometimes betrayed them as well.

They existed under different empires who mostly did them no good, thus they developed strong independence streak. Also these experiences allow them to know their options and seek alternatives to the conditions they do not like.

They did not like it when first Poles and then Russians tried to assimilate them and erase their distinct identity. They developed strong sense of identity, attachment to their land and culture together with desire to protect it from foreign interference.

Another aspect of this area is that it is more self-sufficient than the other parts of the country. Unlike South-East these areas are mostly agricultural or have industries that aim at local consumption. They existed in different empires and economies. So they could also adapt to changing economic realities.


Further subdivisions of Ukraine Proper

This area can be further subdivided into Galicia-Volhynia area around Lviv and Rivne and the Central Ukraine Around Kyiv. They have somewhat different history and geography, but overall, they are equally ancient and share enough traits to function together as a single nation.

Even further they can be divided into its historical regions. Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia and  Polesia, Kyiyavia (Dnipro) and Siveria (Chernigov). Each of these areas has unique character, heraldry and local identity. Ukraine should consider redividing its western oblasts back into these historical regions.


I think bigger territorial units in the west of the country will allow it to better utilize its potential.

Zakarpatska and Chernivtsi Oblasts are somewhat outlying places here. Zakarpatska Oblasts used to be part of Czechoslovakia and home to ethnic minority of Rusyns or Hutsuls, it is also the most geographically isolated part of the country. Chernivtsi Oblast was once part of Romania and Moldova, however nowadays it mostly has Ukrainian majority.

Overall areas of Ukraine proper, including Sumy Oblast of the Slobozhanshina should all stay as parts of Ukraine. They are the core of this county that keeps it afloat and together.

South-East

Areas in blue are called by many names, including Novorossiya. However, locals sometimes call it simply South-East. That name is actually perfect for the area without any particular identity, that is confused as to what they are. Here I will explain what they are.

A more detailed history can be found via this link.

Overall being a colonial area people there are opportunistic and pragmatic. Their ancestors took advantage of economic opportunities in the area and migrated there. Nowadays their descendants in this area also look for opportunities to prosper further.

Because of their diverse origins, they are also able to get along and adapt to people of different cultural background. They are likely able to assimilate them as well.

Economy of this area is in a very challenging situation. As Russia founded and built these cities, they made their economies dependent on links with the rest of Russia, thus making separation difficult. Russia done so fully intending their separation from Russia proper as hard as possible.

So even if average inhabitant of South-East has no particular loyalty to Moscow, their economic situation makes ties with Russia beneficial. Because of that some people there are nostalgic for the soviet past.

To make matters worse during 19th and 20th century mining coal in Donbas area was very profitable but not so nowadays. They are experiencing their first economic downturn and really angry about it. No one in the area could remember any worse times than these.

Since people settled the area during the Russian Empire times Russian language is more prevalent there than Ukrainian one. Though in areas closer to dividing line both are spoken.


Further Subdivision of South-East

South-East is actually more diverse than Ukraine proper. While differences in Ukraine proper are mostly superficial and fundamentally they are all very Ukrainian, they all are flavors of one Ukrainian nation. 

Different areas of South-East in contrast have little in common with each other. People in Dnipro area are very unlike those in Donbas. Those of Odessa are also much unlike those of Kharkiv. Most places have no loyalties beyond their cities or oblasts. However even some oblasts have several key cities who a quite different from each other. For example, coal and steel Kryvyi Rih has more in common with Donbas than with Dnipro, despite being in the same oblast.

I will go over these areas one by one in separate articles and put links here:

Sloboda Ukraine

Donbas

Crimea

Odessa

Middle Steppe

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