[wazoox]

The Eastern part of Ukraine used to be called "little Russia" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Russia); just like eastern Belarus was simply "White Russia". That's also why from 1721 the Czar was called "Emperor of all the Russias".

[sorokod]

Belarus means white russia by itself.

[qiskit]

Interesting fact I learned a while back. Belarus is named white russia because mongols used color based cardinal directions ( gold = center, white = west, black = north, red = south, blue = east ).

So white russia means west russia ( west of russia ). Red and black ruthenia means south ruthenia and north ruthenia. White, gold and blue hordes, you get the idea.

If you ever wonder what made white russians white as opposed to other russians, not you know. For the longest time, I thought it was because it snowed more in belarus.