The more things change....

https://sopuli.xyz/post/36937194

Heads up to anyone that might not know, but you shouldn’t say “the Congo”, because referring to it that was is a remnant of colonialism. Instead, just say Congo. E.g. “there’s a war in Congo”.

I realise that I’m being peak buzzkill politically correct leftie here, but I only learned this relatively recently, and I want to help out others like me. It still sounds weird to me to say “Congo” rather than “the Congo”, but that’s part of why it feels important to make the effort to change

Similar for The Ukraine which means “the frontier” in Russian and evokes the history of Muscovite imperialism over their frontier states
The word “Ukraine” itself doesn’t mean anything in russian nor ukrainian, it’s just a name for a state
The Ukrainian embassy says that The Ukraine is both grammatically and politically incorrect. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Ukraine or the Ukraine: Why do some country names have 'the'?

As Ukraine prepares to co-host one of football's biggest tournaments, Euro 2012, why do fewer people these days say "The Ukraine"?

BBC News
but of course. I never said otherwise. it’s your words about it meaning “frontier” in russian is what i was debating, please read my comment again.