Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

in Ukraine are the third biggest minority after

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

. Unlike many other ethnic groups, Belarusians do not have any particular concentration in the country, but spread out relatively evenly across all regions.

History

White-red-white_flag_of_the_Belarusian_diaspora_in_Ukraine

During the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

Belarusian volunteers fought alongside Ukraine. The first foreign volunteer group in Ukraine was the Pahonia detachment, founded in 2014 during the

war in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The following year, the

tactical group "Belarus" uk, Тактична група «Білорусь» , image = BeТАКТЫЧНАЯГРУПА БЕЛАРУС.png , image_size = , alt = , caption = ...

was formed uniting Belarusian volunteers fighting in different battalions The

Monument to the Belarusians who died for Ukraine The Monument to Belarusians who died for Ukraine in Kyiv is the memorial sign dedicated to the Belarusians who died during the events at Euromaidan and Russian-Ukrainian war. The memorial was opened on March 28, 2016. It is located on the buildin ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

is dedicated to the Belarusian volunteers who died during the Russian-Ukrainian War. On March 9, 2022, the creation of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion was announced which was later transformed into a regiment. On March 30, 2022, the beginning of the formation of another Belarusian unit, the

Pahonia Regiment The Pahonia Regiment, be, Беларускі полк «Пагоня», translit=Biełaruski połk "Pahonia". is a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, which was formed to defend Ukraine against the 2022 Russian invasion. History On Marc ...

was announced which is part of the

International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine The International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, uk, Інтернаціональний легіон територіальної оборони України, Internatsionalnyi lehion terytorialnoi oborony Ukrainy or the Ukrainian Fo ...

Location and number

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, the number of Belarusians is estimated at over 275,000 (the

2001 Ukrainian Census The Ukrainian Census of 2001 is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.

). Most of the Belarusians diaspora in Ukraine appeared as a result of the migration of Belarusians to the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

during the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

has been an important center of Belarusian social and cultural life during the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and

interwar Poland The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

. There are now Belarusian organizations in major cities like Lviv,

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

, and others. A notable Ukrainian of Belarusian descent is

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...

, the fourth president of

References

External link

{{Portal bar, Belarus, Ukraine

Ethnic groups in Ukraine Ukrainian people of Belarusian descent *

History

Location and number

See also

References

External link