Ruthenia
Region in western Ukraine, central Europe, on the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, home of the Ruthenes or Russniaks. Dominated by Hungary from the 10th century, it was part of Austria-Hungary until World War I. In 1918 it was divided between Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania; independent for a single day in 1938, it was immediately occupied by Hungary, captured by the USSR in 1944 and incorporated 1945–47 (as the Transcarpathian Region) into Ukraine Republic, which became independent as Ukraine in 1991.
