You nailed it. Stalin pushed a cultural and physical genocide in order to subjugate the Ukranian people. He pushed the narrative that they were not an independent nation or nationality hence “the ukraine” not Ukraine.
Russian literally doesn’t have articles! There is no “the” to use! And even if there was, it wouldn’t mean anything. That’s just an artifact of how some westerners talked about it.
You nailed it. Stalin pushed a cultural and physical genocide in order to subjugate the Ukranian people. He pushed the narrative that they were not an independent nation or nationality hence “the ukraine” not Ukraine.
Russian literally doesn’t have articles! There is no “the” to use! And even if there was, it wouldn’t mean anything. That’s just an artifact of how some westerners talked about it.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/11/21/in-search-of-a-soviet-holocaust/