Ukrainian nationalist

Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism. Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci, have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedent of specifically Ukrainian statehood. The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism have also been traced to the 17th-century Ruthenian uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

The Cossacks played a role in re-awakening a Ukrainian sense of identity within the steppe region. A dominant figure within the Cossack movement and in Ukrainian nationalist history, Bohdan Khmelnytsky (c. 1595 – 1657), commanded the Zaporozhian Cossacks and led the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century. Khmelnytsky also succeeded in legitimizing a form of democracy which had been practiced by cossacks since the 15th century. This sense of democracy played a key part of the sense of ethnic identity. Bohdan Khmelnytsky spoke of the liberation of the "entire Ruthenian people" and recent research has confirmed that the concept of a Ruthenian nation as a religious and cultural community had existed before his revolution. Modern Ukrainians still remember and glorify Khmelnytsky's role in the history of Ukraine.

Another prominent figure in Cossack nationalism, Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), made large financial contributions focused on the restoration of Ukrainian culture and history during the early 18th century. He financed major reconstructions of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, and the elevation the Kyiv Mohyla Collegium to the status of Kyiv Mohyla Academy in 1694. Politically, however, Mazepa was misunderstood and misrepresented, and found little support among the peasantry.

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