Polans (eastern)

Ruthenia is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term Rus' land referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. Ruthenia was used to refer to the East Slavic and Eastern Orthodox people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austria-Hungary, mainly to Ukrainians and sometimes Belarusians, corresponding to the territories of modern Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Poland and some of western Russia.

Historically, in a broader sense, the term was used to refer to all the territories under Kievan dominion (mostly East Slavs).

The history of Ukraine spans thousands of years, tracing its roots to the Pontic steppe—one of the key centers of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, Indo-European migrations, and early horse domestication. In antiquity, the region was home to the Scythians, followed by the gradual expansion of Slavic tribes. The northern Black Sea coast saw the influence of Greek and Roman colonies, leaving a lasting cultural legacy. Over time, these diverse influences contributed to the development of early political and cultural structures.

Ukraine enters into written history with the establishment of the medieval state of Kievan Rus'. In Dnieper Ukraine, the tribe of Polans played a key role in the formation of the state, adopting the name Rus' by the 9th century. The term is believed to have connections to the Varangians, who contributed to the state's early political and military structure. By the 10th–11th centuries, Kievan Rus' had grown into one of the most powerful and culturally advanced states in Europe, reaching its golden age under Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, who introduced Christianity and strengthened political institutions. However, internal conflicts among Kyivan rulers, along with increasing pressure from Turkic nomads in Southern Ukraine, gradually weakened the state.

The Kyi dynasty, also known as the Kyivites (Ukrainian: Києвичі, romanized: Kyievychi) was allegedly a dynasty of early medieval Polans rulers of Kyiv.

The Drevlians, Derevlians or Derevlianians (Ukrainian: Древляни, romanized: Drevliany or Деревляни, Derevliany, Russian: Древля́не, romanized: Drevlyane) were a tribe of East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries, which inhabited the territories of Polesia and right-bank Ukraine, west of the eastern Polans and along the lower reaches of the rivers Teteriv, Uzh, Ubort, and Stsviha. To the west, the Drevlians' territories reached the Sluch River, where the Volhynians (related to the territory of Volhynia) and Buzhans (related to the name of Southern Bug) lived. To the north, the Drevlians' neighbors were the Dregoviches.