Ukraine or The Ukraine? Common misnomer deeply offensive

Kyiv or Kiev? Since 2014 Ukraine has been petitioning foreign countries to change their maps. Photo / CC

It is a country that has appeared in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. When the Russian invasion began twelve days ago, the embattled city of Kiev shot into focus for many people who had given little thought to the country, let alone visited.

As did the question: "is it Ukraine or THE Ukraine?" News reports variously add and subtract the three letters seemingly with no clear rule.

However, for Ukrainians listening and reading it makes all the difference.

'The Ukraine' is "incorrect both grammatically and politically," say various statements from the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs.

The reason to be so specific on this article is a struggle for independence, 30 years in the making.

"The Ukraine is the way the Russians referred to that part of the country during Soviet times" said William Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine. He has had to clean up relations after journalists or politicians get it wrong, he told Time magazine.
"Whenever they hear the Ukraine, they fume," he said.

It stems from 1991, after Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union.
Many countries decided to drop the article 'the', out of deference. However many style guides for news outlets including the Wallstreet Journal and The Mirror still refer to a country called 'The Ukraine'.

It comes from the fact that in Russian and other Slavic languages it means 'the borderlands' or 'outskirts'.

In Russian the country Украина 'Ukraina' sounds almost identical to окраина 'Okrania', something at the periphery, as it was during its existence as a soviet republic. It was second among equals to the Federal state of Russia, which viewed the region as its border to Europe. This is a view that seems to still be held by the Russian president, who invaded Ukraine last month.

"Kiev or Kyiv?"

Another city that might not seem familiar to English speakers is Kyiv.

Until recently many governments and newspapers referred to Ukraine's capital as 'Kiev'.
It is a world cultural capital with such cultural touchstones as Mussorgsky's "Great Gates of Kiev" and "Chicken Kiev". However, younger Ukrainians see the Russified spelling of the name as a relic of Soviet history.

Kyiv is as many-sided as the Ukrainian language ✨ That’s why the name of our capital might be difficult to pronounce...

Posted by Ukraine UA on Wednesday, January 26, 2022

In 2018 the Ukrainian government began a campaign #KyivNotKiev to influence the English-speaking world.

For the past five years the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and tourism authority has been encouraging English speakers to embrace the less familiar name.

Following this New Zealand, the US and UK governments updated their style to Kyiv across all publications. Although at times Kiev does still get used, including in the PM's shock statement on the Russian invasion.

In 2019 the Associated Press agency made an exception for the city in its reporting.
"Although the AP prefers traditional English spellings for many cities, including Rome, Moscow and Warsaw (not Roma, Moskva and Warszawa), we regard the Ukrainian spelling of Kyiv as an important adaptation because it is linked to Ukraine's present status."