Belarus–Ukraine relations
Belarus–Ukraine relations (, "Byelaruska-ŭkrainskiya adnosiny", , "Ukrains'ko-Bilorus'ki vidnosyny", , "Belorussko-ukrainskiye otnosheniya") are foreign relations between Belarus and Ukraine. Both countries were successively ruled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Second Polish Republic, and ultimately, the Russian Empire. Prior to the 1991 breakup, both countries were part of the Soviet Union as the Belarusian SSR and Ukrainian SSR when they were the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. Being Slavic nations, both Belarus and Ukraine share closely related cultures and are predominantly inhabited by the East Slavic ethnic groups of Belarusians and Ukrainians respectively, along with a few Russians. Today, the two countries share an 891–km border.
Boykos
In Ukraine, the classification of Boykos and other Rusyns as an East Slavic ethnicity, distinct from Ukrainians is controversial. (The deprecated and archaic term Ruthenian, while it is also derived from "Rus'", is ambiguous, as it technically may refer to Rusyns and Ukrainians, as well as Belarusians and even Russians, depending on the historical period.) According to the 2011 Ukraine census only 131 people identified themselves as Boykos, separate from Ukrainians. However, this figure is distorted because some people otherwise identifiable as Boykos regard that name as derogatory. In the Polish census of 2011, 258 people identified their nationality as Boyko, with 14 people listing it as their only national identification.To the west of Boykos live Lemkos, east or southeast - Hutsuls, to the south or southwest - Carpathian Rusyns.