If Russia Collapses, Ukrainian Areas There Should Become Independent States rather than Immediately Part of Ukraine, Slobozhanshchyna Leader Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 17 – For both historical and practical reasons, historically Ukrainian areas within what is now the Russian Federation should become independent states rather than immediately become part of Ukraine, according Andriy Voron, a leader of Eastern Slbozhanshchnya and a member of the Unity of Ukrainians in Historical Lands.

            On the one hand, he says, Ukrainians there have a different history, speak a different language, and have a different identity than Ukrainians in Ukraine. Having been subject to massive Russification, they are neither Ukrainian in the way that Ukrainians in Ukraine are or Russians as Moscow believes (abn.org.ua/en/interviews/the-return-of-ukrainian-identity-interview-with-a-volunteer-from-eastern-slobozhanshchyna/).

            Instead, they are somewhere in between and this needs to be recognized; but being in between means they are definitely not Russians but instead Ukrainians whose history has led them in a different direction, although it has never ended their sense that they are linked to Ukraine.

            There are practical reasons for the establishment of multiple Ukrainian states if Russia collapses. On the one hand, that would give the Ukrainian world more votes at the United Nations; and on the other, it would mean that other countries would not hold off from recognizing and supporting Ukraine because of fears of Russian revanchism.

            At the same time, Voron suggests that these Ukrainian states would be closely allied with Kyiv and that some or perhaps all of them would ultimately become part of a greater Ukraine precisely because with independence, their identities as Ukrainians would strengthen and thus make them more Ukrainian and less Russian than they are now.

            In another comment, the activist who now serves in the Ukrainian army fighting the Russian invaders says, Kyiv should be more welcoming than it has been in the past to Ukrainians from what is now the Russian Federation who flee to Ukraine because of repression. Changing Kyiy’s policies on that would send a strong message that Kyiv will never forget them. 

            For background on the Slobozhanshchyna region which is just east of the Ukrainian-Russian border and the ways in which its people have suffered from Russian occupation but remained separate, see Oleksandr Kramar’s “Unknown Eastern Ukraine” 2012 article at ukrainianweek.com/unknown-eastern-ukraine/).

            For background on Moscow’s fears concerning this and other Ukrainian “wedges” as they are known inside the current borders of the Russian Federation, see jamestown.org/program/moscow-worried-about-ukrainian-wedges-in-russia-and-their-growing-support-from-abroad/, jamestown.org/program/the-kuban-a-real-wedge-between-russia-and-ukraine/, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/07/moscow-declares-two-ukraine-wedge.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/06/crimson-wedge-in-kuban-despite-russian.html.