Urbanization and ethnodemographic processes in Ukraine in the late 19th -early 21st centuries

Abstract

Ethnic processes in Ukraine in the late 19thy - early 21st century are to be considered as part of the industrialization in the South of European Russia (USSR). People tended to migrate from rural to urban areas, which resulted in the growth of transport, industrial, trade, cultural, and educational centers. Those who migrated to predominantly Russian and Jewish cities adopted the Russian language of communication and all-Russian culture, gradually modifying their Ukranian identity. This natural process could not be stopped by the policy of supporting the Ukrainian language and culture, officially pursued in Soviet times. The trends were also strengthened by the arrival of Russian specialists and workers to the industrial facilities in Ukraine and the departure of Ukrainian specialists to other republics. The process was most intensive in the industrial regions of the south and east of Ukraine, where the Russian-speaking majority formed, which led to the civilizational break of Ukraine into the Russian southeast and the Ukrainian northwest.