The article analyzes the prerequisites for the formation and development of the KyivRus state. The historical, social and cultural factors that influenced the formation of state formations on the territory of modern Ukraine are identified. Special attention is paid to the role of the Kievan state as the first powerful state of the ancient Ukrainian tribes and its influence on the further development of Ukrainian identity. It is emphasized that the emergence, formation and development of state formations on ancient Ukrainian lands, in particular the state of the Cimmerians, the Scythian state, the ancient city-states of the Northern Black Sea region, the Bosporan kingdom, the state of the Antis, had a significant impact on the formation and development of Ukrainian statehood. Ukrainian state-building processes intensified in the 4th century, when ancient Ukrainian tribes settled in the territory of the East European plain between the Dniester and Dnieper, its tributaries on the border of the ancient Western world and the nomadic eastern steppe, that is, in the territory of modern ethnic Ukrainian lands. At the end of the 4th – beginning of the 7th century. on the territory of Ukraine in the interfluve of the Dniester and Dnieper, the Ant state was formed, which was also called the “Ant kingdom” (Regnum Antorum) or “Ant land”. Researchers actually consider the Antes to be the first reliable ancestors of Ukrainians.

It is noted that the formation and development of the princely Kyivan state with its center in Kyiv was a natural result of the internal socio-economic and political development of the ancient Ukrainian community. The Kyiv-Rus state – “Ukraine-Rus” was one of the largest and most powerful states of the early medieval period and had a significant impact on the cultural, political and statebuilding processes in Eastern Europe. The Kyiv-Rus state played an important role in Ukrainian and European history. The unification of ancient Ukrainian tribes within the framework of one Kyiv-Rus state gave them the opportunity to defend their lands from attacks by foreign states and nomadic peoples (in the east and south – from the Pechenegs and Polovtsians, in the north – from the Varangians, in the west – from the Polish and Hungarian kings, in the south – from Byzantium). The victory of the Kyivan troops over the nomads also saved Western European states from the Turkic invasion. Later, the embodiment of the state idea of the Ukrainian people was the heir and successor of the Kyiv-Rus state, the no less powerful Galicia-Volyn state, which also occupies an important place in the history of Ukrainian statehood. The Kyiv-Rus state became the basis not only of Ukrainian statehood, but also of Ukrainian identity. Its influence is traced in the legal, cultural and political traditions that have been preserved for centuries. The historical development of the Kyiv-Rus state proves that Ukrainian statehood has deep roots and a solid foundation, thanks to which it is possible to successfully carry out modern processes of national state-building.

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