Kyivan Rus -

The mighty Swedish Viking warrior, Oleg-Helge, standing on the shores of the Dnieper River, declared: "Gar aveldi (Gardarike) - Kyivan Rus!"

The city of Kyiv (50:27N/30:31E) became the mother of all cities of that new Scandinavian Rus Empire. It happened ca. 882-884 in the heart of the medieval East Slavic population called "Polans", the ancestors of the Ukrainian nation.

Kyivan Rus prevailed strong and unified for a couple of centuries, until the renegade rulers-princes sundered the country, taking the northeastern outskirts at the upper springs of the Volga River and naming those as the "Russian Principality".

In 13-15th centuries, the Mongols of Genghis Khan enslaved, as they said - "the northern Russian tribes", which became the most devoted vassals of the Mongol Empire. Supported by the Mongols, the Russian tribes had violently moved to the west, into the central Kyivan Rus - Ukraine.

The former Kyivan Rus Empire fell apart. If the fall of the Roman Empire led to the birth of Europe and higher civilization, the fall of Kyivan Rus led to the opposite results.