Excellent article by Vitally Dribynitsa,
>For centuries, Russian historiography has spun a masterful illusion: that it is the cradle of Slavic civilization, the seat of imperial greatness, and the bearer of cultural brilliance in the East. This is fiction. The inconvenient truth, long suppressed under czarist censorship and Soviet imperialism, is thatwhat the world calls ‘Russian achievement’ is overwhelmingly Ukrainian in origin, stolen and rebranded under imperialist narratives.
Let us begin with the most fundamental lie: the legacy ofKievan Rus’. This medieval polity, centered inKyiv, is the civilizational root of Ukraine—not Russia. Moscow did not exist when Kyiv was a bustling center of Orthodox Christianity, law, and Slavic writing. The Baptism of Rus’? Ukrainian. The early chronicles? Penned in Kyiv.Ilya Muromets, the famed bogatyr of Slavic folklore, is buried not in Russia, but inKyiv Pechersk Lavra. And yet, Russia dares to parade these icons as its own.
When Peter I launched his so-called “modernization” of the Russian Empire, who did he turn to for intellect, culture, and governance?Ukrainians.The bureaucratic reforms, the military institutions, the Orthodox Church’s leadership — these were filled withUkrainian clergymen, administrators, and scholars, forcibly “Russified” in name, but Ukrainian by blood and education. The very model of Saint Petersburg’s imperial court was designed after Kyiv’s own scholastic and ecclesiastical traditions.
Consider the achievements in literature and science. Russia boasts ofNikolai Gogol, conveniently omitting thatMykola Hoholwas born in Poltava, wrote in Ukrainian, and wept for his homeland under Russian oppression.
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