key phrase: > up to the very end of the 19th century, little russia was the prevailing term for much of the modern territory of ukraine controlled by the russian empire, as well as for its people and their language. this can be seen from its usage in numerous scholarly, literary and artistic works. ukrainophile historians mykhaylo maksymovych, mykola kostomarov, dmytro bahaliy, and volodymyr antonovych acknowledged the fact that during the russo-polish wars, ukraine had only a geographical meaning, referring to the borderlands of both states, but little russia was the ethnonym of little (southern) russian people.[21][22] russians can quote literal progenitors of the ukrainian identity saying the actual name is little/southern russian. russians can also quite their national heroes calling themselves russian.  > 493243113 read the article.
Russian Federation