Moldovans in Ukraine

After 1812, Russian Empire annexed Bessarabia from Moldavia. Initially, Romanians under Russian rule enjoyed privileges well, the language of Moldavians was established as an official language in the governmental institutions of Bessarabia, used along with Russian,[2] as more than 90% of the population was Romanian.[3] The publishing works established by Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni were able to produce books and liturgical works in Moldavian dialect of Romanian between 1815 and 1820,[4] used both in Principality of Moldova and in Bessarabia .

From 1829 to 1905, the Russification policies were implemented and all public use of Romanian was phased out, being substituted with Russian. Romanian continued to be used as the colloquial language of home and family, mostly spoken by Romanians, either first or second language. Many Romanians changed Russified family names. This was the era of the highest level of assimilation in the Russian Empire.[5]

In 1918, after being military occupied by Romanian troops, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. In 1940, Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union. Around 65% of Bessarabia is part of the modern-day Moldova, with the Ukrainian Budjak region (part of the Odesa Oblast) covering the southern coastal region, and part of the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast (Romanian: Cernăuți) covering an area in the north.

Despite repeated requests from Romania to Ukraine to recognize Moldovans and Romanians as the same ethno-linguistic groups, as of 2023, Ukraine still considers them different ethnic groups and continues to make Moldovan language schoolbooks.[6]

The number of Moldovans was 258,619 in 2001, out of which 181,124 declared Moldovan, and 2,790 declared Romanian, as their native language. (the 2001 Ukrainian Census).[7][8][9] The largest number of people who identified themselves as Moldovans, 123,751, lived in the Odesa oblast, while 67,225 lived in the Chernivtsi oblast.[10] The people identifying themselves as Moldovans were a majority in Novoselytsia Raion (Chernivtsi Oblast) and more than 49% in Reni Raion (Odesa Oblast) before the 2020 administrative reform of Ukraine. The number of Romanians, at the same 2001 Census, was 150,989, including 114,555 in the Chernivtsi oblast and 724 in the Odesa oblast.[7][11][12]

In Novoselytsia Raion of the Chernivtsi oblast, there were 87,461 inhabitants, of which 50,329 identified as Moldovans, or 57.54% (out of which 47,585 self-identified their language as Moldovan, or 54.45% of the raion's population, and 2,264 as Romanian or 2.6%), 29,703 Ukrainians (35.05%), 5,904 Romanians (6.77%), 1,235 Russians (1.42%), and 290 others (0.29%).[13][14] The raion had 87,241 inhabitants in 2001, including 34.08% Ukrainian-speakers, 64% Romanian-speakers, and 1.78% Russian-speakers.[15][16] In 2001, in the capital of the raion at that time, the town of Novoselytsia, the population mostly identified itself as 54.37% ethnically Ukrainian, 35.82% as Moldovan, 1.63% as Romanian, and 6.84% as Russian.[17] The distribution of the population by native language was Ukrainian 54.9%, Romanian 34.5%%, and Russian 10.1%.[18]

The Reni Raion of the Odesa Oblast, in its boundaries at that time, including the city of Reni, Ukraine, had 40,680 inhabitants in 2001, including 19,938 self-identified Moldovans (49.01%), 7,196 ethnic Ukrainians (17.69%), 6,136 ethnic Russians (15.08%), 3,439 Bulgarians (8.45%), 736 Gagauz (1.81%) and 36 self-identified Romanians (0.09%).[19] The inhabitants of the Reni raion were 37.88% Russian-speaking, 40.9% Romanian-speaking, 7.26% Ukrainian-speaking, 6.76% Gagauz-speaking and 6.61% Bulgarian-speaking.[20] The city of Reni, Ukraine, the capital of the Reni raion, had 20,761 inhabitants in 2001, including 6,694 ethnic Ukrainians (32.24%), 6,126 self-identified Moldovans (29.5%), 5,589 ethnic Russians (26.92%), 1,012 Bulgarians (4.87%), 736 Gagauz (1.81%) and 22 self-identified Romanians (0.11%).[21] In 2001, the city of Reni was 70.54% Russian-speaking, 13.37% Romanian-speaking, 12.5% Ukrainian-speaking, 1.52% Gagauz-speaking, and 1.35% Bulgarian-speaking.[22] In the 2001 Ukrainian Census, Izmail Raion of the Odesa Oblast, within its boundaries in 2001, had a multi-ethnic population of 54,692, including 15,798 ethnic Ukrainians (28.89%), 15,083 self-identified Moldovans (27.58%), 14,072 Bulgarians (25.73%), 8,870 ethnic Russians (16.22%), 230 Gagauz (0.42%) and 34 self-identified Romanians (0.06%).[23] Izmail Raion, within its boundaries at that time, had 54,692 inhabitants in 2001, including 26.34% Ukrainian-speakers, 26.21% Romanian-speakers, 21.56% Russian-speakers, 24.88% Bulgarian-speaking and 0.26% Gagauz-speaking.[24] The city of Izmail, which is also the same as the Izmail urban hromada, had 85,098 inhabitants in 2001, including 32,500 who identified themselves as ethnic Ukrainians (38.2%), 37,166 as ethnic Russians (43.67%), 8,609 as Bulgarians (10.1%), 3,670 as Moldovans (4.31%), 788 as Gagauz (0.01%) and 31 as Romanians (0.04%).[25] The city of Izmail had 85,098 inhabitants in 2001, including 15,353 Ukrainian-speakers (18.04%), 1,538 Romanian-speakers (1.81%), 3,898 Bulgarian-speakers (4.58%), 63,180 Russian-speakers (74.24%), and 327 Gagauz-speakers (0.38%).[26] Kiliia Raion of the Odesa oblast, within its boundaries at that time, had in 2001 59,837 inhabitants, of which 26,659 ethnic Ukrainians (44.55%), 17,977 ethnic Russians (30.04%), 9,442 self-identified Moldovans (15.78%), 2,559 Bulgarians (4.28%), 2,263 ethnic Gagauz (3.78%) and 54 self-identified Romanians (0.09%).[27] Kiliia raion, within its boundaries at that time, had 59,837 inhabitants in 2001, including 36.09% Ukrainian-speakers, 12.81% Romanian-speakers, 44.23% Russian-speakers, 2.52% Bulgarian-speaking and 3.69% Gagauz-speaking.[28]

• Constantin Popovici
• Ivan Bodiul - First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party
• Petro Bolbochan[29] - colonel of the Ukrainian People's Army
• Sofia Rotaru
• Tatiana Gutsu[30] - artistic gymnast
• Vasyl Tsushko
• Volodimir (Moroz)[31] - Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

• Moldova–Ukraine relations
• Ukrainians in Moldova
• Romanians in Ukraine
• Moldovan diaspora
• New Serbia, a province in the Russian Empire where colonists from Moldavia were the majority
• Slavo-Serbia, another province of the Russian Empire that had a notable minority of colonists from Moldavia
• Budjak
• Northern Bessarabia