Asia

Ukraine


Source: https://www.ukraine.com/culture/history-of-ukraine/

Ukraine has a long and troubled history. Early in the Christian era the Ukranian steppes were overrun by various invaders, among which were Huns, Goths and Avars. From the 4th to 7th centuries the first Slavic community was established in the area. A Varangian dynasty from Scandinavia settled in Kiev in the 9th century and proceeded to free the Slavs from Khazar domination and then unite them in them in Kievan Rus. The Ukrainians and their land formed the nucleus of Kievan Rus. Thereafter, Ukraine’s history followed a series of changes in power and domination of one group over the other.

Notably, in the mid-14th century, Lithuania began to extend its borders and took over the rule of Ukraine, which proved to be reasonably beneficial for the Ukrainians. However, in 1569 Poland and Lithuania formed a union which disrupted the relative peace that the Ukrainians had been enjoying. The peasants soon found themselves subject to serfdom and persecution was brought upon the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In 1596 the Bishops of the Ukrainian Church, to preserve their own identity and not be assimilated into Polish Catholicism, established the Greek Catholic faith. They acknowledged the authority of the pope, but kept their Orthodox rites.

In the 16th century, the term ‘Ukraine’, which is translated as ‘borderland’ or ‘at the border’, came into use. Poland-Lithuania was now struggling against the growing principality of Moscow for control of the area of Ukraine. Many Ukrainians fled beyond the area of the lower Dnieper rapids in order to escape the religious persecution and serfdom that harsh Polish rule had brought upon them. These fugitives established a military order known as Cossacks, or Kozaks, being taken from the Turkic ‘kazak’ which means ‘adventurer’ or ‘outlaw’. The Cossacks waged a successful revolution against Polish domination in 1648.

Ukraine was unable to stand alone though, and a treaty was concluded with Moscow, acknowledging their superiority, but allowing Ukraine a large measure of independence. Russia did not respect the terms of the treaty however, and treated the Ukrainians with contempt, referring to them as ‘little Russians’. Ukraine concluded a treaty with Poland in 1658 which resulted in the Russo-Polish war and the partitioning of Ukraine. Thereafter followed years of domination, treaties and unrest in Ukraine until after the Bolshevik Revolution, when Ukraine declared complete independence in January 1918.

This situation was fairly short-lived though, when after much conflict in the area, Soviet troops gained control of Ukraine, which became one of the republics of the USSR in 1922. This inclusion into the USSR under communist rule resulted in much hardship for the Ukrainians, and so during World War II when Germany invaded Ukraine, many saw them as liberators. However, the Nazis viewed all Slavs with contempt and treated them very harshly during their occupation of Ukraine.

After the devastation of World War II Ukraine still suffered much unrest on their way to independence. In July 1990 a declaration of sovereignty was passed by the Ukrainian parliament, and in August 1991 Ukraine was declared to be independent of the Soviet Union. Leonid Kravchuk became the first president of Ukraine in December 1991.1

Ukraine People Groups from The Joshua Project

Ukraine. Data from The Joshua Project (https://www.joshuaproject.net)

People Reached Language Population Bible Religion Adherents Evangelical
Adyghe Unreached Adyghe

600

New Testament Islam

0.0

0.0

Avar Unreached Avar

1,300

New Testament Islam

0.0

0.0

Azerbaijani Unreached Azerbaijani-North

40,000

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Bashkir Unreached Bashkort

3,800

New Testament Islam

3.0

0.5

Chechen Unreached Chechen

2,600

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Chuvan Unreached Ukrainian

200

Complete Bible Ethnic Religions

5.0

0.0

Dargin Unreached Dargwa

1,400

Portions Completed Islam

0.0

0.0

Jew Karaite Unreached Karaim

1,200

Portions Completed Ethnic Religions

0.0

0.0

Kazakh Unreached Kazakh

4,900

Complete Bible Islam

0.2

0.0

Kumyk Unreached Kumyk

600

New Testament Islam

0.0

0.0

Kurd Kurmanji Unreached Kurdish-Northern

1,900

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Kyrgyz Unreached Kyrgyz

1,000

Complete Bible Islam

5.0

0.7

Lak Unreached Lak

900

Portions Completed Islam

0.0

0.0

Lezgin Unreached Lezgi

3,900

New Testament Islam

0.0

0.0

Orochi Unreached Oroch

900

Unspecified Ethnic Religions

0.0

0.0

Orok Unreached Orok

900

Unspecified Ethnic Religions

4.0

0.5

Pashtun Southern Unreached Pashto-Southern

900

Portions Completed Islam

0.0

0.0

Tabasaran Unreached Tabasaran

900

New Testament Islam

0.0

0.0

Tajik Unreached Tajik

3,800

Complete Bible Islam

1.0

0.1

Tatar Unreached Tatar

65,000

Complete Bible Islam

1.5

0.2

Tatar Crimean Unreached Crimean Tatar

291,000

Complete Bible Islam

0.1

0.1

Tatar Judeo-Crimean Unreached Ukrainian

1,700

Complete Bible Ethnic Religions

0.0

0.0

Thai Unreached Thai

3,800

Complete Bible Buddhism

2.0

1.0

Turk Unreached Turkish

3,500

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Turk Meskhetian Unreached Ukrainian

3,500

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Turkmen Unreached Turkmen

3,300

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Uzbek Northern Unreached Uzbek-Northern

11,000

Complete Bible Islam

0.0

0.0

Yazidi Unreached Kurdish-Northern

2,000

Complete Bible Ethnic Religions

0.0

0.0

Abkhaz Minimally Reached Abkhaz

1,500

New Testament Non-Religious

20.0

1.0

Albanian Minimally Reached Albanian-Gheg

3,000

New Testament Islam

15.0

0.5

Arab Uzbeki Minimally Reached Arabic-Uzbeki Spoken

5,900

Unspecified Islam

10.0

0.5

Chuvash Minimally Reached Chuvash

9,500

Complete Bible Christianity

35.0

2.0

Czech Minimally Reached Czech

5,300

Complete Bible Non-Religious

26.0

0.7

Eskimo Siberian Minimally Reached Yupik-Saint Lawrence Island

100

Complete Bible Ethnic Religions

16.0

0.8

Gilyak Minimally Reached Gilyak

500

Portions Completed Ethnic Religions

6.0

0.5

Komi-Permyat Minimally Reached Komi-Permyak

1,000

New Testament Christianity

40.0

0.5

Komi-Zyrian Minimally Reached Komi-Zyrian

1,000

Complete Bible Non-Religious

33.0

0.5

Vietnamese Minimally Reached Vietnamese

3,400

Complete Bible Buddhism

9.0

1.8

Assyrian Superficially Reached Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

2,800

Complete Bible Christianity

87.0

2.0

Belarusian Superficially Reached Belarusian

246,000

Complete Bible Christianity

71.0

1.4

Bulgarian Superficially Reached Bulgarian

183,000

Complete Bible Christianity

80.0

1.9

Deaf Superficially Reached Ukrainian Sign Language

217,000

Portions Completed Christianity

79.0

Gagauzi Turk Superficially Reached Gagauz

29,000

New Testament Christianity

75.0

2.0

Georgian Superficially Reached Georgian

31,000

Complete Bible Christianity

76.0

1.7

Greek Superficially Reached Urum

82,000

Translation Needed Christianity

90.0

1.0

Izhor Ingrian Superficially Reached Ukrainian

800

Complete Bible Christianity

74.0

0.8

Karelian Superficially Reached Karelian

1,400

New Testament Christianity

69.0

1.5

Lithuanian Superficially Reached Lithuanian

6,400

Complete Bible Christianity

85.0

1.1

Mordvinian Superficially Reached Erzya

8,300

New Testament Christianity

61.0

2.0

Polish Superficially Reached Polish

129,000

Complete Bible Christianity

90.0

0.3

Romani Balkan Superficially Reached Romani-Balkan

599,000

Complete Bible Christianity

70.0

0.9

Romani Carpathian Superficially Reached Romani-Carpathian

42,000

New Testament Christianity

80.0

2.0

Serb Superficially Reached Serbian

600

Complete Bible Christianity

80.0

0.6

Slovak Superficially Reached Slovak

5,700

Complete Bible Christianity

93.0

1.2

Spaniard Superficially Reached Spanish

900

Complete Bible Christianity

77.0

1.0

Udin Superficially Reached Udi

500

Unspecified Christianity

86.0

1.0

Udmurt Superficially Reached Udmurt

4,200

Complete Bible Christianity

55.0

0.1

Vepsian Superficially Reached Veps

300

New Testament Christianity

65.0

1.0

Armenian Partially Reached Armenian-Western

89,000

Complete Bible Christianity

94.0

8.7

Estonian Partially Reached Estonian-Standard

2,600

Complete Bible Non-Religious

45.0

4.9

German Partially Reached German-Standard

30,000

Complete Bible Christianity

64.0

2.1

Han Chinese Mandarin Partially Reached Chinese-Mandarin

2,000

Complete Bible Non-Religious

8.0

5.7

Hungarian Partially Reached Hungarian

140,000

Complete Bible Christianity

88.0

2.8

Jew Eastern Yiddish-speaking Partially Reached Yiddish-Eastern

200,000

Complete Bible Ethnic Religions

4.7

4.0

Latvian Partially Reached Latvian-Standard

4,500

Complete Bible Christianity

60.0

7.0

Moldavian Partially Reached Romanian

231,000

Complete Bible Christianity

73.0

3.7

Ossetic Partially Reached Ossetic

4,300

Complete Bible Christianity

46.0

3.0

Romani Baltic Partially Reached Romani-Baltic

1,800

Complete Bible Christianity

65.0

3.0

Romani Vlax Partially Reached Romani-Vlax

8,800

Complete Bible Christianity

70.0

3.0

Romanian Partially Reached Romanian

135,000

Complete Bible Christianity

97.0

5.4

Russian Partially Reached Russian

7,341,000

Complete Bible Christianity

67.0

2.4

Ruthenian Partially Reached Rusyn

497,000

Portions Completed Christianity

85.0

3.7

Saami Kildin Partially Reached Saami-Kildin

100

Portions Completed Christianity

65.0

3.0

South Asian general Partially Reached Hindi

8,900

Complete Bible Hinduism

4.0

2.5

Ukrainian Partially Reached Ukrainian

32,621,000

Complete Bible Christianity

75.0

4.0

Americans U.S. Significantly Reached English

600

Complete Bible Christianity

82.0

28.9

Finnish Significantly Reached Finnish

700

Complete Bible Christianity

84.0

12.1

Korean Significantly Reached Korean

11,000

Complete Bible Non-Religious

31.0

16.8