Hello! I'd really like to know what were Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev's actual nationalities, are they russian or ukrainian? I only know that Khrushchev is born in the Kursk region near Ukraine and that Brezhnev's parents are from the same region, but Leonid himself is born in Ukraine. Thanks a lot in advance!
Both Khrushchev and Brezhnev had Russian parents.
Khrushchev's father (Sergei) according to family tradition* had apparently been sent away from the family farm when he was old enough and ended up in Yuzhovka. William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man, His Era.
Brezhnev's family apparently migrated to the region as the industrial jobs were opening up in the 1880s or 1890s**. Paul J. Murphy, Brezhnev: Soviet Politician.
*Khrushchev tells the story that it was literally a tradition that once you got married you were sent away. Taubman notes this wasn't a tradition, but it wouldn't have necessarily been usual due to land shortages and perhaps it was just something that family did. So what I'm saying is the tradition may have been a literal one, or the tradition might have been the story of being sent away.
**I should really double check those dates now that I think about it... but I just finished puting it back on the bookshelf :|