What’s been occurring in Ukraine throughout the last eight years should be closely studied by communists in the United States, Canada, and the other settler-colonial countries. Because it’s a 21st century example of what happens when oppressed nationalities are pushed to a breaking point by fascist violence, then successfully fight back to win their self-determination. In 2014, faced with a takeover by ultra-nationalists who were unleashing neo-Nazi brutality upon Ukraine, the peoples of the Donbass couldn’t afford to stay part of the country. They were the biggest targets for the persecution, because they were especially made up of ethnic Russians. So they resisted and gained their independence, with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic having been officially recognized as independent by Russia earlier this year.