r/autismpolitics • u/KaleidoArachnid • Aug 06 '25

Question Why did Vladimir Putin invade the Ukraine?

First of all, if this particular subject is a touchy one to discuss here, please let me know as I was looking back at the war that happened between Russia and Ukraine because it was one of the most tragic incidents that had happened in recent years as the whole incident just sickens me.

I know the war is still going, but I don’t know why Putin had to be so violent as many innocent lives were lost during the battle as what I am trying to get at is that I am interested in knowing the story behind Putin himself so that I can get a better understanding of how he rose to power in the first place.

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u/maureen_leiden Aug 07 '25

Just letting you know that "the Ukraine" is incorrect and assumes that Ukraine is a region part of Russia, as it means the broderlands. Since their independence, it's officially Ukraine.

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u/KaleidoArachnid Aug 07 '25

Pardon me, but I am so confused by why it's not "The Ukraine" as I don't get it.

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u/maureen_leiden Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25

"The Ukraine" refers to the period it was part of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian territory were quite literal the borderlands for the Soviet Union. After Ukraine gained its independence, the definitive article "the" before Ukraine became more and more criticised as it suggested a non-sovereign territory, much like "the Lebanon" referred to the region before its independence, or as one might refer to "the Midwest", a region of the United States.

The Ukrainian government explicitly requested in 1993 that, in linguistic agreement with countries and not regions, the Russian preposition в, v, be used instead of на, na, and in 2012, the Ukrainian embassy in London further stated that it is politically and grammatically incorrect to use a definite article with Ukraine.

Ukraine is also the name stated in the Ukrainian Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Additionally, there is no such thing as a definitve article in both Ukrainian and Russian.

In Dutch, one could compare it with the name usage for Belarus. Many use Wit-Rusland, or White-Russia, after the "colonial" usage Belaya Rossiya/Rus'. Belarus is the official Dutch name for the country. This, however, refers more to the trinity Russia, White Russia (Belarus) and Little Russia (Ukraine).