korolev was russian (russian empire), then soviet. when he was born there was no ukraine beyond the name given to a region of the russian empire, and later a republic from the ussr . so from birth he would call himself russian and later he would call himself soviet (maybe adding as coming from the ukrainian ssr). not very different from an american coming from texas or california.
It still provides important content because when you tell people how horrible of a place this wretched nation is, they might argue about all the great people whom this nation/empire gave to the world.
And since we are talking about Korolev, do you know how the man died?
He had bad health because he spent time in prison for "treason." I might be wrong but I think it was him who was to get executed, but someone convinced Stalin this man is needed for their projects. In any case, he required a surgery. he died during it because of some old health problems he got when he was in prison, problems from being mercilessly beaten continuously probably. What a man to be proud of as a Russian, am I right?
They were slaves, all of them.
And thus, it makes it more important to know where all of these brilliant people came from.
They were Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Polish, Uzbeks and all around the nations USSR subdued.
They were not Russians as it would just mean they were a part of this horrible ethnicity that was second in people killed in the last 100 years. Even Hitler could not kill as many people as Stalin did.
And when I see Russians priding themselves on victories and foreigner geniuses they count as theirs, I just begin to realize where their problems lie, and where they aggressive nature comes from.
