New York is not the US. Moscow is not russia. Kyiv, however, is Ukraine. Why? Aha! Kyiv is Ukraine because it is the founding location of Kyivan Rus. It holds a different historical and geographical place than the other ones you mentioned and so goes the above. Moscow is muscovy but it isn't russia. Kyiv is Ukraine because it has always been multicultural. Think about it. Varangians (Vikings) were its guardians and paid protectors. Tatars and other tribes travelled from Crimea across the steppes to trade and some to settle in Kyiv. Clergy, royalty and traders traveled from Byzantine to teach Orthodoxy and lead the Church there originally (also from Greece), marriages took place between Byzantine, Hungary, France, Sweden with Kyivan Russian royalty. So, Kyiv is the heart and soul of Ukraine because it is where the the modern Ukrainian state was born. Just don't flaunt it to the people living in Lviv. I am a Kyivan now myself, but not a Ukrainian. That's my two kopecks...