Russian-Ukrainian War (2022- )

[nightstreak]

Decades maybe, but centuries seems highly doubtful. I know there used to be a time when they were considered "brotherhood", and I'm pretty sure it wasn't centuries ago, if not until 2014 then at least until 1990 or so.

I’m afraid that you’ve misinterpreted “brotherhood”. Russians have long considered Ukraine as a little brother in a pejorative sense to imply a hierarchical, subordinate relationship where Russia is the "elder brother".

Malorossiya ”Little Russia” is the counterbalance to Great Russia, and dates back to the Tsarist-era as an administrative term for Ukrainian lands, implying that they’re subordinates to Russia, as Maloross or lesser Russians.

 

[evandyk]

My wife is Russian. Her family came here in the 1980s, and they certainly think of Ukrainians as fellow peoples ("brotherhood" for lack of a better term). They are profoundly ashamed of Russia right now.

 

[afransen]

My wife is Russian. Her family came here in the 1980s, and they certainly think of Ukrainians as fellow peoples ("brotherhood" for lack of a better term). They are profoundly ashamed of Russia right now.

Maybe along the lines of commonwealth for us (like Australia/NZ). Culturally a lot of similarities, with some important differences.

 

[narduch]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2037617382001143902

 

[Admiral Beez]

My wife is Russian. Her family came here in the 1980s, and they certainly think of Ukrainians as fellow peoples

My wife is Ukrainian-Canadian, her grandparents having fled the Holodomor. She’d likely tell your Russian wife to shove any notion of cultural fellowship. When every Russian has left Ukraine dead or alive, when the Ukrainian children stolen by your wife’s people are returned, and compensation is paid for the damage to Ukrainian lives and property, then there can be talk of “fellow peoples”.

Maybe along the lines of commonwealth for us (like Australia/NZ). Culturally a lot of similarities, with some important differences.

When Canada or Australia invades New Zealand and declares that NZ does not exist, and kidnaps Kiwi kids, etc. that analogy would work.

One day we may see a warming of relations between Russia and Ukraine, similar to how postwar Germany and Israel overcame the horrors of the Holocaust and one could argue grew closer because of that shared experience. But this war has if anything made Ukrainians a separate nation, with a renewed language, culture, purpose and identity. I can’t foresee a renewed brotherhood with Russia, because the latter’s combination of arrogance, superiority complex and compensatory grandiosity will never allow Russians to see Ukrainians as equals.

 

[DSCToronto]

From Economist: