Ukraine during the times of the Russian Empire
Khmelnitsky’s need for help against Poles led to an agreement with Muscovite tsar in 1654, which was considered an act of submission by Muscovites. Poland-Lithuania was forced to recognize Muscovite suzerainty over Kiev and the lands east of the Dnepr River, and Cossack hetmanate was gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire.
In the late 18th-century, after partitions of Poland, the Russian Empire obtained Ukrainian lands west of the Dnepr River, except for Galicia, which went to Austria.
Ukrainian nationalist movement developed in the 19th century, but in Russian-held Ukraine the movement faced political repression and restrictions against Ukrainian language. In Austria-Hungary conditions were more favorable, and, by the time of World War I, Ukrainians of Galicia set up a network of viable cultural, political, and religious institutions.
The symbol of the Russian Empire
The map of the Russian Empire
