Quote Originally Posted by adoc
I don't think this explanation actually works, and I don't know why it is obvious, it sounds contrived. There has never been "на Казахстан, на Грузию, на Латвию". It is just what it is, a peculiarity of Russian grammar, like "чёрный кофе", not a political suppression instrument. It is as irrelevant and coercive as spelling "womyn" instead of "woman".
All the places you mentions, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Georgia, they became part of Russia much later than Ukraine did.

Украина is believed to come from Окраина - outskirts, which takes Na since it refers to an unenclosed, general area. It was the outskirts of Russia. Now Украина is an independant country, and not the outskirts of Russia and has it's own define boundaries.

В Украине is now most commonly used in the Russian language in Ukraine (in line with the Ukrainian В Україні). Look at these Google results:

7,000,000+ for В Украине
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sa ... 5%22&meta=

That includes the US Embassey in Kiev

3,000,000+ for На Украине
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sa ... 5%22&meta=