STATE-FORMING PROCESSES IN VORONEZH REGION IN THE ERA OF THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTIONS: KYIV’S REACTION

Abstract

In the 20th and 21st centuries, revolutionary events in Ukraine resonated in the Voronezh region of Russia, where Ukrainians live compactly since the 17th century. In 1917-1921 a million of Ukrainians in this region supported the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) and wanted to unite with it. At the congresses of cities, districts, villages, meetings of public organizations, delegates adopted resolutions on unification with Ukraine and sent them to Kyiv. But the leaders of the Ukrainian People's Republic did not listen to the will of one million Ukrainians of the Voronezh region, therefore it became a part of Russia. In order to gain ground there, in the 1920s and early 1930s, Moscow carried out Ukrainization with the transfer of some schools, technical schools, colleges, press and theaters to Ukrainian language. During the Holodomor of 1932-1933, as a result of which almost 600,000 Ukrainians died in Voronezh region, all this was canceled. In the 1990s and 2000s, there was some revival in the humanitarian sphere: several Ukrainian classes were opened in schools of the region as well as two groups at the university. Also festivals of Ukrainian culture were held. But with the beginning of Russia's aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the Ukrainian movement in Voronezh Oblast faded out.