I know that the Russian Empire fought a war against the Ottoman Empire in the late 1700s. One of the results of that war was annexation of parts of the Ukraine into the Russian empire and the Crimean region became a Russian satellite state. Why were the Russians so interested in this region?
Two big reasons:
1- Warm water port. From Crimea, a Russia fleet could access the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Most of Russia's northern ports would freeze during the winter making them far less useful.
2- Agriculture. Ukraine is one of the major bread baskets of Europe.
Bonus- Pan-Slavism and Russian identity. Kievan Rus was the very earliest vestige of Russian history. To many Russian leaders throughout history, Ukraine may have been a tempting annexation for that reason.
It's just Ukraine, no "the" just so you know.