<P> Ukraine emerges as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival in the mid-18th century, in the wake of the peasant revolt of 1768 / 69 and the eventual partition of the Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth . Galicia fell to the Austrian Empire, and the rest of Ukraine to the Russian Empire . </P> <P> While right - bank Ukraine belonged to the Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth until late 1793, left - bank Ukraine had been incorporated into Tsardom of Russia in 1667 (under the Treaty of Andrusovo). In 1672, Podolia was occupied by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, while Kiev and Braclav came under the control of Hetman Petro Doroshenko until 1681, when they were also captured by the Turks but in 1699 the Treaty of Karlowitz returned those lands to the Commonwealth . </P> <P> Most of Ukraine fell to the Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine the Great; in 1793 right - bank Ukraine was annexed by Russia in the Second Partition of Poland . </P> <P> Ukrainian writers and intellectuals were inspired by the nationalistic spirit stirring other European peoples existing under other imperial governments . Russia, fearing separatism, imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate the Ukrainian language and culture, even banning its use and study . The Russophile policies of Russification and Panslavism led to an exodus of a number some Ukrainian intellectuals into Western Ukraine, while others embraced a Pan-Slavic or Russian identity . This led to many of the great Russian authors and composers of the 19th century being of Ukrainian origin (notably Nikolai Gogol and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky). </P>

When did ukraine become part of russian empire