Russians in Ukraine

Russians in Ukraine form the largest ethnic minority in the country, and the community forms the largest single Russian diaspora in the world. In the 2001 Ukrainian census, 8,334,100 identified as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the population of Ukraine), this is the combined figure for persons originating from outside of Ukraine and the native population declaring Russian ethnicity.

Geography

Ethnic Russians live throughout Ukraine. They comprise a notable fraction of the overall population in the east and south, a significant minority in the center, and larger minority in the west.

The west and the center of the country feature a higher percentage Russians in the cities and industrial centers and a much smaller percentage in the overwhelmingly Ukrainophone rural areas. Due to the concentration of the Russians in the cities, as well as for the historic reasons, most of the large cities in the center and the south-east of the country (including Kiev where Russians amount to 13.1% of the population) remained largely Russophone as of 2003.

Russians

Russians (Russian: русские, russkiye) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, who speak the Russian language and primarily live in Russia. They are the most numerous ethnic group in Russia constituting more than 80% of the country's population according to the census of 2010, and the most numerous ethnic group in Europe.

Ethnonym

There are two Russian words which are commonly translated into English as "Russians". One is "русские" (russkiye), which most often means "ethnic Russians". Another is "россияне" (rossiyane), which means "citizens of Russia". The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in and irrespective of whether or not they hold Russian citizenship. Under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, and does not include ethnic Russians living outside of Russia. Translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups.

Ukraine

Ukraine (ⁱ/juːˈkreɪn/; Ukrainian: Україна, tr. Ukraina [ukrɑˈjinɑ]) is a country in Eastern Europe,bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland and Slovakia to the west, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It is currently in dispute with Russia over the Crimean peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but Ukraine and most of the international community still recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi), making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world, and a population of about 44.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world.

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire, and later submerged fully into Russia. Two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II, but both occasions would ultimately see Ukraine's territories conquered and consolidated into a Soviet republic, a situation that persisted until 1991, when Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the aftermath of its dissolution at the end of the Cold War.

Chris D'Elia

Chris D'Elia (born March 29, 1980) is a Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian, actor, writer and rapper. He played Alex Miller on the NBC sitcom Whitney and currently the role of Danny Burton on the sitcom Undateable, also on NBC.

Early life

D'Elia was born in New Jersey, the son of TV producer and director Bill D'Elia, and interior decorator Ellie D'Elia (née Dombroski). He has a younger brother, filmmaker/actor Matt D'Elia. His father is first generation Italian-American.

D'Elia grew up in New Jersey until he was 12 years old, when his family relocated to Los Angeles.

Career

D'Elia started acting in high school, did some guest starring parts on Chicago Hope. He went to New York University and studied acting but dropped out after a year because he didn't like college. He then got in a movie that went straight to DVD. During his downtime as an actor he started writing scripts. When he was 25 he decided to do standup, which is what he always wanted to do. D'Elia has been doing stand-up comedy since 2006. He considers himself to be a standup comedian who acts. D'Elia has been featured on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and Comedy Central Presents as well as on Showtime's Live Nude Comedy. D'Elia was introduced to a broader audience as a regular on the series Glory Daze, which ran for one season on TBS, playing "the Oracle", William Stankowski. He was originally only cast for the pilot but they made him a series regular. He co-starred in the NBC comedy series Whitney, opposite comedian Whitney Cummings for two seasons. D'Elia was one of three hosts of the Ten Minute Podcast, along with Bryan Callen and Will Sasso.