Belarusians in Ukraine

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Belarusians in Ukraine
Percentage of Belarusians in Ukraine by region
Total population
275,763 (2001)
Regions with significant populations
Donetsk Oblast44,525 (2001)
Crimea
(w/ Sevastopol)		35,157 (2001)
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast29,528 (2001)
Luhansk Oblast20,587 (2001)
Kyiv16,549 (2001)
Kharkiv Oblast14,752 (2001)
Odesa Oblast12,767 (2001)
Zaporizhzhia Oblast12,655 (2001)
Rivne Oblast11,827 (2001)
other regions of Ukraine77,416 (2001)
Languages
Russian (62.5%) Belarusian (19.8%) Ukrainian (17.5%)
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy, Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
Related ethnic groups
Slavic people (West Slavs, East Slavs, South Slavs)

Belarusians in Ukraine (Belarusian: Беларусы Украіны, romanized: Biełarusy Ukrainy; Ukrainian: Білоруси в Україні, romanized: Bilorusy v Ukraini) are the third biggest minority after Russians. Unlike many other ethnic groups, Belarusians do not have any particular concentration in the country, but spread out relatively evenly across all regions.

History

Early history

During the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous students from Belarusian lands studied in Ukrainian educational establishments, such as Ostroh Academy, Lviv Brotherhood School and Kyiv Mohyla Academy. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ukrainian lands were visited by Belarusian authors Francišak Bahuševič, who studied at Nizhyn Lycaeum, and Alaiza Pashkevich, who spent some time in Galicia. During the 1920s, cultural activists from Byelorussian SSR organized several tours around Soviet Ukraine, and Belarusian author Yanka Kupala was elected member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.[1]

According to the 1926 Soviet census, 76,000 Belarusians lived in Ukrainian SSR, half of them in cities. An additonal 3,800 Belarusians resided in Crimea. Most of Belarusian population was concentrated in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and the Donbas. Additionally, several rural colonies with Belarusian population existed in Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts. Belarusians in Ukraine were subject to rapid assimilation, with only 16,000 of them using Belarusian in daily communication.[1]

Belarusian volunteers during the Russian-Ukrainian War

White-red-white flag with Columns of Gediminas in the form of a trident of the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine, which is also used by the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment[2][3]

During the Russo-Ukrainian War Belarusian volunteers fought alongside Ukraine. The first foreign volunteer group in Ukraine was the Pahonia detachment, founded in 2014 during the war in Donbas.[4] The following year, the tactical group "Belarus" was formed uniting Belarusian volunteers fighting in different battalions[5] The Monument to the Belarusians who died for Ukraine in Kyiv is dedicated to the Belarusian volunteers who died during the Russian-Ukrainian War.[6] On March 9, 2022, the creation of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion was announced which was later transformed into a regiment.[7] On March 30, 2022, the beginning of the formation of another Belarusian unit, the Pahonia Regiment was announced which was part of the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine.[8]

In June 2023, Valery Sakhashchyk, then defence minister of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus (a government-in-exile opposed to the de facto government of Alexander Lukashenko) informed about the creation of the 1st Separate Air Assault Company "Belarus", part of the 79th Air Assault Brigade.[9] The Belarusian assault company was located in the Donetsk direction.[10]

During the August 2024 Kursk Oblast incursion, volunteers of the TUR tank unit of the 225th Independent Assault Battalion also took part in the operation. The unit consists mainly of Belarusians.[11]

Location and number

In Ukraine, the number of Belarusians is estimated at over 275,000 (the 2001 Ukrainian Census).[12] Most of the Belarusians diaspora in Ukraine appeared as a result of the migration of Belarusians to the Ukrainian SSR during the Soviet Union. Lviv has been an important center of Belarusian social and cultural life during the Russian Empire and interwar Poland. There are now Belarusian organizations in major cities like Lviv, Sevastopol in the Crimea, and others. A notable Ukrainian of Belarusian descent is Viktor Yanukovych, the fourth president of Ukraine.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. Енциклопедія українознавства. Словникова частина (ЕУ-II). p. 132.
  2. "Білоруси створили в Україні "Білоруський Добровольчий Корпус"". Мілітарний (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  3. Журавель, Дмитро (2022-12-26). "В Україні з'явився "Білоруський Добровольчий Корпус" (ВІДЕО)". ШоТам (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  4. "Участь в АТО візьме добровольчий загін білорусів "Пагоня"" (in Ukrainian). Еспресо TV. 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  5. "Расея можа паўтарыць украінскі сцэнар у Беларусі". БЕЛАРУСКАЕ РАДЫЁ РАЦЫЯ (in Polish). 2017-02-10. Archived from the original on 2021-08-30. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  6. Monument to Belarusians who died for Ukraine was opened in Kyiv // Belsat TV
  7. ЕВРОРАДИО (2022-03-09). "Белорусы создали батальон имени Калиновского для обороны Киева". euroradio.fm (in Belarusian).
  8. Белорусы начали создавать полк «Погоня» в составе Вооруженных сил Украины
  9. «Сахашчык сам удзельнічае ў баявых апэрацыях». Баец з новай дэсантнай роты беларусаў расказаў, чым яны займаюцца на Данбасе
  10. Что за новая рота, о которой говорил Валерий Сахащик? Спросили у него
  11. В Курскую область РФ зашли белорусские добровольцы
  12. "Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001 - Результати - Основні підсумки - Національний склад населення". 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua.

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