Why was Ukraine’s statehood erased from memory?

In the 9th–10th centuries, Kyiv became the capital of a powerful state — Rus. It would seem this is the beginning of Ukraine’s statehood. Official history claims that before that, there were only tribes here. Disunited, wild, unsettled.

But this is not true. Or at least – it’s an incomplete truth.

Because even a millennium before Kievan Rus’, states existed on the territory of present-day Ukraine.

City-states of the Northern Black Sea region – 7th–5th centuries BCE.

• The Bosporan Kingdom – 480 BCE, Crimea and the Azov region.

• The Pontic Kingdom – 3rd–1st centuries BCE, Black Sea region and Asia Minor.

• The Empire of Hermanarich, the state of the Goths – 3rd–4th centuries CE.

• The Hunnic Empire – from the Black Sea to the Rhine, established in the 370s CE.

• The Khazar Khaganate – 6th–10th centuries CE. Defeated by Sviatoslav in 969 CE.

And these were states, not tribes. With armies, laws, dynasties, and diplomacy.

But once we get to the Scythians or the Antae, everything suddenly gets simplified: “tribes.”

Although the “royal Scythians” had a king, a despotic centralized authority, their own culture and religion.

What is this, if not signs of statehood?

The Sarmatians — also on our land. 3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE.

In the legend about the Sarmatian queen Amaga, it is explicitly mentioned that her husband was a king who neglected state affairs because of his abuse of honey.

If a people had “state affairs,” then perhaps they really were a state, not just a nomadic tribe.

So why does modern science suddenly “demote” the Scythians and Sarmatians? Why is their statehood not recognized?

Why are the Slavic unions in the territory of Ukraine – the Polans, Drevlians, Severians, Tivertsi, Ulichs, and White Croats – in the 9th–10th centuries called tribes, even though this was already the time of the formation of real state structures?

Why are the tribal unions in Western Europe (the Franks, Saxons, Burgundians) referred to as “proto-states,” while for us they are called “tribes”?

Why is it believed that the history of statehood on Ukrainian lands began only with the arrival of the Varangians?

The answer is not complicated. But it is painful.

Because our history of statehood was deliberately erased.

We were told: before the Varangians, there was nothing. Before Christianity – darkness and chaos.

Because if we had no statehood, it means – we were not a people. It means – we could be colonized, assimilated, “protected.”

And so, over time, we began to be “protected” by Lithuania, then Poland, then Moscow…

But even in the 19th century, in the History of the Rus, there is a charter from Casimir III the Great dated March 17, 1339, where the Rusyns are called descendants of the Sarmatians, and the Poles – their blood brothers. Because both peoples are of Sarmatian origin.

In other words, even the Poles acknowledged that the Rus’ people have deep historical roots – going back to Sarmatian times.

But in modern historiography, all of this has been erased. Devalued.

Not by accident – but because of ideology.

And here arises the main question:

Why are the Indo-European peoples, who are obvious ancestors of the Rus’-Ukrainians, denied statehood in official history?

Who did this and why?

And, most importantly – Isn’t it time for us to reclaim our history?

Anatoliy Herasymchuk, author of the books “From Rus’ to Ukraine. Restoring History”, “Whose Crimea? Wars in the Steppes of Ukraine.”

Rus-Ukraine

EMPR

Tags: History history of ukraine hybrid war hybrid warfare russia ukraine kyiv Kyivan Rus Ukraine ukraine history