Might as well start again with "the Congo", "the Sudan" (or Soudan while we're at it), etc. In English (and Dutch) those articles have all fallen into disuse - even if in Russian it still is "the Ukraine", and in Arabic it still is "the Sudan".

I agree that one should not just pretend that the Soviet Union leadership was per definition Russian, and that all the other SSRs were oppressed by the Russians or whatever, like some former SSRs seem to like to do because it's politically convenient.

Based on the estimates I've seen at Wikipedia, the clear majority of the dead were in fact Ukrainians (or rather, citizens of the Ukrainian SSR), but that does not prove that it was specifically intended against them, that's clearly an issue that historians don't agree on and I know far too little about it to take a position. What I definitely agree with you on is that Ukrainian nationalists seem to be abusing the issue - this proposed law equating "Holodomor denial" with Holocaust denial is preposterous.

Okay, bet accepted.

Oh, I noticed that, but I was merely citing it as an example that far from all Eastern Ukrainians want to join Russia, and while there would no doubt be a cheering crowd for the Russian army, there would also be many who are furious or devastated about such a display. Much like there are plenty of people in the West who also have Russian as mother tongue and feel just as uncomfortable about the anti-Russian tone of Svoboda and others.