Ukraine has a very Russian history. Saint Vladamir the Evangelist was the Russian prince of Kiev when he sent out emissaries to Rome and Constantinople to learn of the Christian faith. When they returned, the ones who went to Rome reported that the clergy ruled the people like serfs and laded then with guilt to induce greater donations. There was no beauty in Roman worship. The other ones who had gone to Constantinople came back a reported that their experience could only be described as a morning in Heaven. The beauty of the worship in Hagia Sofia was indescribable. Vladamir then sent the two groups to Constantinople again to request teachers and bishops. Then he took the whole city of Kiev out to the river and baptized them en mass himself and proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church. The city now serves as capitol of Ukraine. But the Russians remember their roots.