Stop calling it "The Ukraine"
The country is called "Ukraine," not "the Ukraine"
Thanks 
= new reply since forum marked as read
Failing to mention Russian involvement in Ukraine goes back much farther then the USSR (or is it just "USSR"
. Ukraine had been part of Tsarist Russia for at least 200 years prior to the Bolsheviks, and had been fought over and been divided between Russia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean Khanate and the Golden Horde for the past 700 years.
In some ways, Ukraine is similar to Yugoslavia and some of the other countries that were created at the end of WW I. Only except that it's independence was short-lived.
While I think we need to defend Ukraine against Russia, it kind of pisses me off that people refuse to acknowledge that had we not supported a coup in Ukraine, we probably wouldn't be in this mess.
I’ve pointed that out a number of times, and it seems many prefer to use Putin’s terminology. 
Think of it that way. Ukrainians think of it as an insult. So do Russians.
I haven't heard that reference. Guess cuz I don't watch Cable News?
I do know that I've mispronounced Kyiv (not Kiev)... because our media taught me incorrectly. Now having learned from actual Ukrainian, how we've pronounced and spelled the name was from Russian linguistic orientation.
But I've missed "THE Ukraine" .... seems quite Putinesque. 
Strange, but there it is.
don't even have definite articles as far as I know. So it's an issue of what the country is called in a non-native language.
I wonder if there are any languages that require definite articles for country names. I know Spanish uses them in places we don't in English (el Señor Garcia, for example).
I've always wondered why languages often call countries by different names than the natives do. We say Germany (from Latin Germania) instead of Deutschland, but English is a Germanic language and its own country of origin is called 'England', which obviously got its name the same way 'Deutschland' did
No one can know what is "correct" or not because Slavic languages DON'T HAVE ARTICLES. In most cases, translators are left to figure from context. In German, for example MANY countries are named with a definite article. Turkey is "Die Türkei," Switzerland is "Die Schweiz," and the Czech republic is "Die Tschechei." Not to mention "Die Ukraine," which is used by our resident Ukrainian friend when he discusses his homeland with my wife (his German is excellent). French goes even further with Le Luxembourg, L'Espagne, l'Allemagne, La Russie, le Finlande, etc etc (not to mention La France).
The very name means "out of (У the edge (of the national territory)," the edge (Край being the Russian border. Україна in Ukrainian, Украина in Russian. "The" is in the ear of the listener, so to speak. "I am the walrus" in Russian would be "I Walrus" because they have no articles or present tense of the verb "to be." If you want to get technical, go check with Moose and Squirrel.
This is what I think of when I hear 'the Ukraine'. The Ukrainian man uses the correct term though 
. Maybe since his English grammar is a little off (dropping the indefinite article), people thought that was incorrect?
of a brutal invasion and, apparently, the problem is the word "the." That part of the world has been sliced and diced so many times, many think of it as a region, thus "the." 
Not all we can do
I'm only asking for a modicum of respect for a country going through a crisis. Sure there is more that can be done, but showing some respect goes further than so many might realize.
Getting bent out of shape because most people don't want us to refer to a country by the wrong name. It is too bad. 
and suggesting we could use his "peacekeeping" tactic to grab a chunk of Mexico.
Amusingly, he corrected himself immediately, so obviously his staff have made some progress over the years in getting him to drop the "The." 