Famous People of Ukrainian Origin

Independent Ukraine is a very young country. Actually Ukraine is only about 18 years old. After USSR collapsed Ukrainian people had to build their State from scratch having no own constitution, legislation and even money. Now we have almost everything an independent country needs. I admit that we have a lot of things to do to improve life of Ukrainian people, we must eradicate corruption and make some representatives of Ukrainian government respect their country and people. But the most important task for Ukraine is to establish positive image of the country. We should show the world that Ukraine is NOT a wild uncivilized country, that we worth being a part of European Union. We must renew glory of Ukrainian people.

Ukraine has a very dramatic history. Being dominated by its neighbors, Ukraine remained unknown as a country having its own culture, mentality, traditions and history especially western countries. Ukraine has always been in a shadow of Russia, although Kyiv (capital of Ukraine) is known as the mother of Russian cities. Nevertheless Ukraine and Ukrainian people are mistakenly associated with Russia even today. I guess the reason is that Ukraine had been a part of USSR for decades. The other reason for famous Ukrainians being almost unknown in the world is, firstly, that Ukraine was just one of the USSR’s provinces. And even earlier being a part of Russian Empire, Ukraine was called small Russia and was considered to be one of the provincial parts of the huge Empire. The center was, of course, in Moscow (and in St. Petersburg during Russian Empire) where people had more opportunities to develop their skills in practice and develop, create and invent. Secondly, activity of most Soviet people was under total governmental control and those who tried to be independent or did not want to cooperate with the government or were against communists’ policy risked their freedom or even lives. So many of Ukrainian people were banished from their own country to work abroad to glorify other countries, or raise children and grandchildren whose genius and talents are known all over the world. You never knew that some of very famous people were of Ukrainian origin. And this is the time to remember famous people of Ukrainian origin and what they are famous for.