Why Ukraine Reclaims Its Historic Lands

A subtle hint.

On Sobornosti Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians. The document refers to Ukrainians living in the Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov regions of the Russian Federation. It destroys the Kremlin's argument about the return of "Russian" lands in the invasive Russian-Ukrainian war. But it does not imply any territorial claims by Ukraine against the Russian Federation.

This decree, like the draft law on multiple citizenship, is merely proof that Ukrainians live not only in Ukraine. The Ukrainian community and the Ukrainian nation have their representatives in different countries of the world, including in the country whose leadership unleashed a dirty war against us. We would like to remind you that there are Ukrainians in the Russian Federation itself. Moreover, the territories mentioned in the decree are places of historical residence of Ukrainians.

Why is this important? Mainly because Russia is now making territorial claims against us. It is annexing, as the Russians say, Russian lands. In fact, they are lands where Ukrainians have historically lived, but they are lands that have historically been multi-ethnic (like Crimea). But with this decree we remind the Russians that Ukrainians also live on the territory of the Russian Federation, and this is what has happened historically. And not only in the regions mentioned in the decree.

The Ukrainian president's decree is not only symbolic, it is also a reminder to the Russians that their arguments about the occupied territories do not work.

For example, we can still remember the Green Wedge in the Far East, or the territories of Western Siberia where Ukrainians have been living for decades because they are compactly concentrated professionally.

In general, all this undermines the Russian argument that Russia is restoring historically "Russian lands" in Ukraine. After all, according to this logic, Russia should give most of its territories to other nations that have lived there historically. So this argument does not work. So, in this sense, the above-mentioned decree of the President of Ukraine is not only symbolic, but it is also a reminder to the Russians that their argumentation regarding the occupied territories does not work, so we have to start from historical realities. And one of these realities is that historically Ukrainians have also lived on the territory of the Russian Federation.

As for the thesis about the development of interaction between Ukrainians and the peoples enslaved by Russia, which is mentioned in the decree, it is an element of the strategy to fight Russian imperialism. The reference to this is a reminder of the multinational character of the Russian Federation. Therefore, if the Russian Federation behaves like an empire both in relation to the peoples living on its territory and in relation to the neighbouring states, then sooner or later this empire will cease to exist.

In simple words, if Russia behaves like an empire, then Ukrainians, including those living on the territory of the Russian Federation, will cooperate with the enslaved peoples for their liberation and for overcoming the Russian imperial status, which brings evil both to the peoples of the Russian Federation and to its neighbours.

Volodymyr Fesenko, unian.net