

“Ukraina”, in addition to being the name of the country in both Ukrainian and Russian, is also a Russian word that means “borderland”. Because of that, many Ukrainians take issue with referring to it as “the” Ukraine (and doubly so without capitalization). Doing so is seen as ignoring their existence as an independent nation and reducing it to a geographic region defined by its function as a buffer between Russia and Europe.
I think you mean their listener’s license. Wow, that takes me back.