Minorities in Ukraine

As of the 2001 census, significant ethnic minorities in Ukraine include ethnic Russians, who are the largest minority, as well as Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Romanians (including Moldovans). Additionally, there are smaller populations of Poles, Jews, Armenians, Roma, and other nationalities.

According to the Financial Times, issues concerning minorities in Ukraine represent a major potential barrier to the initiation of negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the European Union. Former Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has repeatedly threatened to veto Ukraine's EU accession process over concerns related to minority rights.

The 2001 Ukrainian census identified several sub-ethnic groups among Ukrainians, including Boykos, Hutsuls, Lemkos, Litvins, Polishchuks, Rusyns, and Pinchuks, with no individuals identifying as Pinchuks at that time. Other Ukrainian sub-groups include Batyuks, Bukovinians, Dolynians, Opolyans, Podolyans, Pokuttians, Siverians, Slobozhans, and Volhynians. Outside Ukraine, Rusyns are often recognized as a separate nationality.

Among Russian sub-ethnic groups in Ukraine are the Lipovans, Molokans, and Goryuns, who identify as distinct from both Russians and Ukrainians or as a blend of the two. Other notable groups include Crimean and Nadazovia Greeks, as well as various German communities such as Carpathian, Crimean, Galician, Mennonite, Volhynian, and Zipser Germans, alongside Meskhetian Turks, Bessarabian Bulgarians, Hollenders, and Romanian-speaking Vlachs/Volokhs.

The 2021 law 'On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine' defines indigenous peoples as ethnic minorities with unique languages, cultures, and representative bodies that have developed within Ukraine and lack state entities outside the country. This law recognizes the Crimean Tatars, Crimean Karaites, and Krymchaks as indigenous peoples of Crimea. There have been efforts to acknowledge additional groups, such as the Gagauz and Nadazovia Greeks, as indigenous.