instance_of ivan fyodorovich shponka and his aunt
Ukrainian ___MASK40___ and ___MASK63___ of Ukraine and ethnic Ukrainians . Ukraine has a shared ___MASK40___ and history with neighboring nations , dating back to the 9th century and the Land of Rus . Mutual ___MASK63___ are shared among the cultures of Ukraine , Belarus , Ukrainian Cossacks and ___MASK56___ of Central Asia . Ukrainian ___MASK63___ are heavily influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church and traditions from Slavic mythology . The Soviet ___MASK26___ unified the cultures of many unrelated nations with a common language . Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt (       , Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka i yevo tyotushka ; 1832 ) is part of the ___MASK35___ Evenings on a ___MASK2___ Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol . Evenings on a ___MASK2___ Near Dikanka ( Russian :           ) is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol , written from 1831  1832 . They appeared in various magazines and were published in book form when Gogol , who had spent his life in today ' s Ukraine up to the ___MASK93___ of nineteen , was twenty - two . He put his early impressions and memories of childhood into these pictures of peasant life . In a series of letters to his mother , he asked her to write down descriptions of village customs , dress , superstitions , and old stories . These were also used as primary sources . Ukraine ( tr . ) is a ___MASK48___ in Eastern Europe , bordered by Russia to the east and northeast , Belarus to the northwest , Poland and Slovakia to the west , Hungary , Romania , and Moldova to the southwest , and the Black ___MASK78___ and ___MASK78___ of Azov to the south and southeast , respectively . Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian . Including Crimea , Ukraine has an area of , making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world . It has a population of about 44 . 5 million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (  ) was a Ukrainian - born Russian dramatist , novelist and ___MASK20___ writer whose ___MASK97___ was strongly influenced by Ukrainian culture .