Aeste refers to her home country as "The" Ukraine.
At the time the story is set Ukraine had been independent for well over twenty years and hadn't been "The" Ukraine for a very long time, it is simply Ukraine.
No Ukrainian would use the name "The" Ukraine.
The only people still using the term "The" Ukraine would be Russians doggedly clinging to the past who refuse to recognize Ukrainian independence and Geography teachers with VERY old text books.