Ethnonational reality and expectations in the context of representation of russian and other minorities in Ukraine (1989–2017)

The article is devoted to analyzing ethnonational reality and expectations in the context of the representation of Russian and other minorities in Ukraine in 1989–2017, in particular against the background of the annexation of the Crimea and occupation of the part of Donbas by Russia. It is revealed that ethnopolitical reality in Ukraine is a complicated and controversial issue due to the lack of reliable statistics on the population of Ukraine (as of the moment of analysis), as well as due to the fact that a significant part of the multinational population of Ukraine is outside the jurisdiction of the official Kyiv and thus beyond the scope of various studies. The author argued that there are several groups/cohorts of ethnic minorities in Ukraine, but the Russian one is most represented. At the same time, it was found that the relative and absolute number of ethnic Russians in Ukraine is decreasing. This is especially noticeable against the background of the processes of annexation of the Crimea and the occupation of part of the Donbas districts, by virtue of which it was recorded that as of 2017, Ukraine if did not be- come yet, then it becomes a mono-state power with the dominant ethnic core of the Ukrainian nation, bilingualism, significant percentage of representatives of other ethnic groups and polyconfessionalism. This corresponds to the construction of the concept of a civil/political nation in Ukraine.