Topics catalog

"Kyivan Rus' Never Existed" — Anatomy of a Myth

The Russian myth that "Kyivan Rus' never existed, being an artificial 19th-century term" conflates categories: the modern label and Rurik legend do not negate the real Rus' state centred on Kyiv.

How "Rus'" Became "Russia"

The myth that Russia is the heir of Kyivan Rus' and Kyiv "originally Russian": Moscow only borrowed the Greek name of Rus' (Ῥωσία → "Rossiya"), brought to Zalissia after the Mongol invasion.

When Ukrainian Identity Emerged

The myth that "Ukrainian identity is artificial and Rus' = Russians" is false: "Rus'/Rusyn" became the ethnonym of the Ukrainian lands in the 13th century, long before modern nations.

Why "Ukraine" Does Not Mean "Borderland"

The "Ukraine = borderland" myth: the name first appears in 1187, a century before Muscovy, and the root krai means "country, land" — as in the Peresopnytsia Gospel and on 17th-century maps.

The Holodomor

The Holodomor: a man-made famine, not a natural disaster

The myth that the Holodomor was a natural famine is false: the 1931 harvest was adequate, and the mass deaths of 1932–33 came from Stalin's grain seizures — up to 4 million dead in Ukraine.

World War I

The Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles — its terms, the consequences for Germany, and the road to the Second World War

World War I Article

The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917–1921: a state before the USSR

The myth that "the Bolsheviks created Ukraine" is false: in 1917–1921 Ukrainians built the UNR, Hetmanate, ZUNR and Directorate — independence in 1918, unity in 1919, before the Ukrainian SSR.

World War II

Did the USSR Want to Save Czechoslovakia in 1938?

The Soviet myth that it was ready to defend Czechoslovakia in 1938 but was prevented: the 1935 treaty applied only after France acted, there was no common border, and Poland refused transit.

Finland in World War II

Finland's part in World War II — from the Winter War with the USSR to a war to recover its own territories

The 1941 DniproHES Demolition: Who and Why

The USSR blamed the Germans for destroying DniproHES on 18 August 1941. In fact Soviet forces blew up the dam on Stalin's order — yet the common 'tens of thousands of victims' figure is unproven.

The Katyn Massacre of 1940

The Soviet myth that the Nazis shot the Polish officers at Katyn is refuted by the USSR's own documents: the NKVD did it in spring 1940 on a Politburo decision — including in Ukraine, in Kharkiv.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The 1939 non-aggression treaty between the USSR and Nazi Germany, with its secret protocol dividing the spheres of influence

The Red Army's 'Liberation' of Europe

The Soviet myth of the Red Army as Europe's liberator: in reality occupation and Stalin-sanctioned plunder, "reparations" dismantling thousands of enterprises — even from the USSR's own victims.

Violence Against Women in the Second World War

The mass violence against civilian women during the entry of Soviet troops into Germany — a suppressed tragedy of the war

Western Ukraine under Poland and the Soviet myth

The Soviet narrative that a Ukrainian had more opportunities in the USSR than in interwar Poland — refuted by facts about land, education, and careers (a Ukrainian was deputy marshal of the Sejm).

Articles

"Russia Is Always a Peacemaker": The Myth of the Peace-Loving Empire

The Kremlin myth of a peace-loving Russia, broken by its own documents: the list of wars in Cabinet Resolution No. 63 (1994) and a chain of interventions from Transnistria to Kazakhstan.

"Russian" Collaborationism: What the Kremlin Hides

A mirror to the "Ukrainian Nazis" myth: Russian collaboration with the Nazis was massive — Vlasov's army, Kaminski's RONA, ~1.5 million police auxiliaries; the tricolor was a collaborator flag.

Mongol era Article

Between Rus' and the Cossacks: the Lithuanian–Polish era

After Rus', Ukraine's lands passed to Lithuania and Poland, then the Cossack state — not Moscow, which dismantled this continuity by war and Catherine II's decrees rather than 'inheriting' it.

Carpatho-Ukraine 1939: the state that was crushed

In 1939, Carpatho-Ukraine emerged in Transcarpathia — a state with a Diet, a Constitution, and President Avhustyn Voloshyn. It was crushed by Hungary and Germany. Proof of Ukrainian statehood.

Did the Bolsheviks "Invent" Ukraine?

Putin's myth that "Lenin created Ukraine" is the reverse of the truth: in 1919 the Bolsheviks conquered Ukraine, ignored its statehood, and recognized the Ukrainian SSR only in late 1920.

How Russia rewrites history in textbooks

How Russia turned school history textbooks into a weapon: the Medinsky–Torkunov 'single textbook' (2023) rehabilitates Stalin, aiming above all to justify aggression against Ukraine.

Is the Ukrainian nation "artificial"?

Russia's myth that "Lenin invented Ukraine" and that Ukrainians never existed as a nation is false: the modern Ukrainian nation formed in the 19th century like any European one, with deep roots.

Is Ukraine a 'Nazi State'?

The Kremlin's wartime myth of a 'Nazi Ukraine' needing 'denazification' is false: Ukraine's 2015 decommunization law bans the symbols of both Nazism and communism as totalitarian regimes.

Is Ukraine's 1991 Independence Legitimate?

The myth that Ukraine's 1991 independence is illegitimate and the state "artificial." In fact the Act of 24 Aug 1991 won a 90% "yes" referendum, and Ukraine legally succeeds the Ukrainian SSR.

Mazepa's "Treason": Examining the Myth

The myth of Mazepa's "treason" is one-sided: the Hetmanate's ties to Moscow rested on treaties (the Kolomak Articles, 1687), and even Russian historian Tairova-Yakovleva revisits the charge.

Pereyaslav 1654: The Myth of "Reunification"

The myth of the 1654 "reunification of Ukraine with Russia": Pereyaslav was a military protectorate, one of Khmelnytsky's alliances, and the lands were split only by the 1686 Eternal Peace.

Post-truth: when emotions matter more than facts

"Post-truth" is not a plain lie but a state where emotions outweigh facts (coined by Ralph Keyes, 2004). A tool of Russian propaganda: charged, ready-made phrases almost impossible to verify.

Self-Governing Ukraine of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Early modern Ukraine in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a self-governing society under the rule of law (the Lithuanian Statute) — the antithesis of Muscovite autocracy.

Cold War Article

The 1954 Transfer of Crimea: Was It Illegal?

The myth that "Crimea was handed to Ukraine illegally" underpins the 2014 annexation. In fact the 1954 transfer was fixed by three decrees, and Russia recognized the borders in 1994 and 1997.

The Cult of the "Great Victory"

Russia's cult of the "Great Victory" on May 9 is not mourning but a militarist quasi-religion and political tool: Putin as the "new Stalin" who needs "Nazis," duly found in Ukraine.

Cold War Article

The dissident movement: resistance the USSR called Nazism

The dissident movement of the 1950s–80s resisted Russification for the Ukrainian language. The USSR branded dissidents "heirs of Nazism" — a forerunner of Russia's "denazification" cliché today.

The Executed Renaissance: how Moscow killed a culture

Ukrainian culture of the 1920s flourished in a vivid renaissance that Moscow deliberately destroyed after 1933. Mykola Khvylovy, who killed himself amid the Holodomor, is its symbol.

The Holocaust and Babyn Yar: Memory as a Battlefield

The Holocaust is part of Ukraine's history. The USSR suppressed Babyn Yar; Russia now weaponizes its memory, casting Ukrainians as "wholesale collaborators" to erase Nazi guilt.

Cold War Article

The KGB against the Ukrainian diaspora: 'active measures'

For years the KGB waged 'active measures' against the Ukrainian diaspora abroad — imposing Moscow's version, sowing discord, planting agents. The roots of today's disinformation.

The murder of Leontovych: who shot the author of Shchedryk

Mykola Leontovych, author of the worldwide 'Shchedryk' (Carol of the Bells), was shot in 1921 by a Cheka agent. The Soviet authorities concealed the murder, blaming it on 'bandits' and 'Petliurites.'

The Partitions of Poland: How Russia Acquired the Right Bank

Right-Bank Ukraine came under Russia not "from time immemorial" but through the partitions of Poland (1772–1795), which Russia justified with a mythical "Kyivan inheritance."

The Russo-Ukrainian War of 2014

The start of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the collapse of the 'Novorossiya' project, and the absurdity of the Kremlin's geopolitical justifications

The Union of Brest 1596: Kyiv, Rome, Constantinople

The claim that Kyiv's Orthodox Church answered to Moscow is false: the Union of Brest (1596) tied Kyiv to Rome, and the Moscow Patriarchate (1589) was a new project claiming the Rus' lands.

UAOC 1921: The Ukrainian Church Before the Tomos

Ukrainian church independence did not begin in 2018: the autocephaly movement emerged in 1917, founded the UAOC in 1921, and was destroyed by Soviet repression.

Ukrainian Is Not a Dialect: Hrinchenko's Dictionary

The myth that 'Ukrainian is a dialect of Russian' is refuted by Hrinchenko's four-volume dictionary (1907–1909): a codified literary language proves both the language and the nation are real.

Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations

More than 2,670 Ukrainians are recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing Jews in the Holocaust — a documented rebuttal to the Russian myth of "wholesale" Ukrainian collaboration.

Ukrainian Statehood: Key Stages

The Ukrainian state tradition did not begin from scratch in 1991: its stages included Rus', Ruthenian agency in the Commonwealth, the Hetmanate, the states of 1917–1921, and independent Ukraine.

Ukrainophobia and the War over Symbols

Russian information operations smear Ukraine's symbols as an "inverted flag" or "wrong coat of arms." Ukrainophobia targets Ukrainians as a political nation and was defined in law in 2023.

Was the OUN a Fascist Movement? A Historian's Honest Answer

Russia reduces Ukrainian nationalism to "fascism." Historian Oleksandr Zaitsev's answer: the OUN was "proto-fascist" but not Nazi — far more complex than the Kremlin's cliché.

Was Ukraine a Colony of Russia

The claim that "Ukraine was never a colony" is false: Russian colonialism was political, not economic — power and prestige, not resources — and the "Russian world" is its modern instrument.

Who "Founded" Ukrainian Cities: A Myth Debunked

The myth that Russian tsars founded Ukrainian cities: Catherine II's edict never mentions Odesa, Donetsk was founded by Welshman John Hughes, and Crimean cities long predate the 1783 annexation.

Who Fed Whom: The Myth of Russian 'Subsidies'

The Kremlin myth that 'Russia fed Ukraine' inverts reality: in the USSR resources flowed out of Ukraine to the centre — from the Dashava gas that heated Moscow from 1951, to coal, ore and grain.