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Very interesting. I don't see this mentioned in the article, but apparently the leading hypothesis as to the origin of the Ukrainian state (and possibly Polish soon after) was that they were "seeded" by Viking rulers, I wonder if this is related.

I hope such artifacts make it through the current war for our and future generations, not so clear in the light of barbarian looting of Ukrainian museums by Russians: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/may/27/ukraine...

Most commonly accepted theory is that it was through the fusion of Viking elite + local Slavic tribes which led to the formation of the identity of the Rus, a people who would be the civilisational ancestors of modern Ukrainiains, Belorussians and Russians.

AFAIK, this narrative is broadly accepted by all of these modern peoples

That's pretty much confirmed already; Kievan Rus' (middle ages government) with Rurik = Hrœrekr of Ladoga in 862, who was an Old Norse speaker; not even four generations later his family was already native Common East Slavic speakers, assimilated to the locals, like the very name of Svyatoslav I of Kiev shows. The process was extremely similar to what happened in Italy with the Longobardi and in Spain with the Visigoth.

And that Kievan Rus' is the ancestor state of Ukraine (aka Ruthenia), Belarus (white Ruthenia/Rus') and Russia (Rus'-ia). The very trident that you see in the Ukrainian coat of arms is almost certainly a Rurik symbol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ukraine#Tryzub

>Russian state going rogue in an invasion

I'm not even a tiny bit surprised. The Russian government is one of those states where you don't expect anything reasonable, human, or moral.

Trident is an anchor, symbol of Christianity, like cross or fish. The cross is the top part of an anchor, while the anchor itself is in the lower part. Anchor has such complex geometry because it weaved from wire. Similar anchors in full form can be found on some rare ancient Greek coins made in Khersones seaport (now Sevastopol). The anchor is similar to the symbol used by Rurik dynasty, so they liked it.
Yes seems likely related. The Rus' people are believed to have originated in present day Sweden. Does not feel impossible that there were trade routes connecting Greenland to Kyiv theough Scandinavia.
Native Russians (русичи, "sons of Russia"), were citizens of the town of Russia (now Old Russa, but old town was near to shore), which was on Russia river (now Porussia river). At times of Plague of Justinian, they abandoned their town and spread at large territory from the Caspian Sea to Spain. At about the same time Volyn` Kingdom, last kingdom of all Slavs, was broken into pieces, so tribes were left without a ruler. Nine eastern Slavic tribes and Russians are formed (Kievan) Russia. Later, Russia was broken into pieces (Red, White, Black Russia). Much later, Moscow kingdom captured Kyiv, so Petro I added "tsar of all Russia" to his title, then Catherine the great, born in Prussia, forbid to accept all official letters without "to Imperator of Russia" in the title, so Moscow kingdom changed it name to "Russian Empire", but instead of "R-oo-s-ia" they call themselves with foreign accent: "R-uh-ss-ee-ya". (Use Google Translate to check original pronunciation in various Western languages and in Russian language).
The fact that the slavic people and the Vikings were very close to each other, to the point where it was common for Slav (mostly from Poland) and Viking ruling families to inter-marry, is well established [1].

The Vikings went quite farther than Kyiv, as the existence of the Varangian Guard [2] (part of the Byzantine army) attests to (Varangians was the name the Vikings were known by in the Bizantine Empire). And as we know, they also reached the Canadian coast [3], so it's not the least surprising to me that their trade extended from Greenland to at least, Kyiv.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings#Intermixing_with_the_S...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangians#Varangian_Guard

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows

There's a lecture series on Ukrainian history by Timothy Snyder available on youtube[1]; a few of the lectures cover this period.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz...

There is an episode of 'In our time' more or less discussing this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vrx8g
Kiev grown on trade with Byzantium; mostly slaves, gold etc.. It some point it was 5th largest city in Europe. Then Avars and Mongols invaded. It is all well documented.
a city of 60-80k, heart of slavic world razed to the ground, paving the way later for Moscow ascension. Makes me thinking of the Khwarazmian Empire or Jin, Chu Kingdoms where millions where killed
> barbarian looting

Good bait, but the linked article seems to mostly be along the lines of "Russians securing works of art for a potentially sinister purpose".

Reminds me of this [0] fascinating episode of a podcast called „Fall of Civilizations”. It talks in depth on how abundant walrus in Greenland drove the existence of a thriving Viking empire out there for a period of time. Those walrus tusks were apparently a highly desired global commodity all around Europe until ivory from Africa replaced them.

[0] https://open.spotify.com/episode/7j6Iix39liJLuVr5rsbyyr?si=Y...

wonderful podcast series!
https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Путь_из_варяг_в_греки

Lower Dnieper was not ship-worthy at the time and was settled very late. But, the route is well-known to have a name (not unlike "silk road").

It also linked Sweden to Perisa (Iran).

In an ongoing manga, Vinland Saga, the main character (a viking) ships narwhal horns to Greece to fund his expedition to America.
But of course, because Kyiv was the important trade center of Rus and Europe.