Ukraine V's The Ukraine
 

Which do you say? I would have always said "The" Ukraine but my daughter pointed out this morning when they were talking about it on the radio and used "the" that this was incorrect and it's actually just "Ukraine" she's right but why do people use "the" where did it come from?

**I also noticed the thread about Russia and Ukraine has "the" Ukraine in it's title too :p

Well simple google search says The Ukraine is how the Soviets referred to it
Ironic as the creator of that thread seems to be in love with Ukraine

Its Украина in Russian dummy.

And yes brits have always referred to it as the Ukraine but i guess its incorrect but its not a collection of anything?

Like we say the Bahamas because its a collection of islands
and The USA because its a collection of states.

But we dont say the Congo, or the Jordan anymore because they are not collections of anything?

I never heard anyone call Jordan The Jordan

1) Yeah in 2020s Russian. I used past tense in reference to Ukraine being apart of the Soviet Union, and being called ‘The Ukraine’ by Soviets at the time, which was until the 1990s, if you didn’t know.

2) no we haven’t and Niamh is Irish

3) yes we do

your wrong on all three points. thank you.

you’re

Most Ukrainians find it disparaging to say 'the Ukraine' because it harks back to when they were governed by the Soviet Union, they suffered a lot under Communism and are still suffering from the USSR's successor

it goes back to soviet times when it was basically a region rather than a country, its similar to the urals or the everglades , the amazon etc etc