A lot of words to repeat Russian propaganda.
There was far more concerted Russification of Ukraine than Polish-ification...
The Ukrainian language is the Ukrainian language, what's spoken in the east is considered a Creole that's a combination of Russian and Ukrainian due to, well, centuries of Russification.
> «kraj» has descended from a Proto-Slavic of *krajь. It can mean «region», «country» or «land»,
Obviously. Every second place here is called "X Kraj". Literally the word used for region still.
> O-krajina" that you are citing can mean «fringe» or «edge» but not «borderland».
Okraj literally means border but it doesn't really matter, edge and border are literally the same thing in English. Dunno why you are insinuating it's different.
Language does evolve though, now there's different words (and more words) for edge, border, suburb, periphery, etc...
It's not clear that Kraj on it's own was "edge" or "border" though. Okraj definitely was however
> Moscow was founded in 1147
So I got one date wrong (I was thinking of Moscow's rise as an actual city state post-Mongol yoke, not the date they made a fort in a swamp especially since the first town was completely destroyed by the Mongols) but first mention of "Ukraine" is 1187. Long before the Russian Empire, before the Mongol invasions, long before Moscow was anything more than a small fort.
There was far more concerted Russification of Ukraine than Polish-ification...
The Ukrainian language is the Ukrainian language, what's spoken in the east is considered a Creole that's a combination of Russian and Ukrainian due to, well, centuries of Russification.
> «kraj» has descended from a Proto-Slavic of *krajь. It can mean «region», «country» or «land»,
Obviously. Every second place here is called "X Kraj". Literally the word used for region still.
> O-krajina" that you are citing can mean «fringe» or «edge» but not «borderland».
Okraj literally means border but it doesn't really matter, edge and border are literally the same thing in English. Dunno why you are insinuating it's different.
Language does evolve though, now there's different words (and more words) for edge, border, suburb, periphery, etc...
It's not clear that Kraj on it's own was "edge" or "border" though. Okraj definitely was however
> Moscow was founded in 1147
So I got one date wrong (I was thinking of Moscow's rise as an actual city state post-Mongol yoke, not the date they made a fort in a swamp especially since the first town was completely destroyed by the Mongols) but first mention of "Ukraine" is 1187. Long before the Russian Empire, before the Mongol invasions, long before Moscow was anything more than a small fort.