Ireland resisted British domination over centuries. Now, on the 100th anniversary of its War of Independence (which began on Jan. 21, 1919), it may become the undoing of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – thanks to the self-inflicted folly of Brexit.

Ukraine, too, may drive a nail into the coffin of Moscow’s imperial ambitions. The establishment of a national independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church may be another step in that direction. Like Britain with its Brexit, Russia would have no one but itself to blame for its troubles.

The parallels between Ireland and Ukraine are too obvious, except scaled up to account for the differences in size. They are all over the place: lying across a narrow body of water, Ireland became one of England’s earliest conquests, laying the foundations for the expansion of the British Empire from the 17th century on. The Irish were among the best and the bravest soldiers of the empire, and also provided both voluntary and forced manpower for settling conquered continents.

Similarly, the conquest of Ukraine was what made Russia an empire in the first place. Ukrainian Cossacks were among the czars’ best soldiers, settling the empire’s frontiers and expanding its territories – starting with the push into lands held by Mongolian Hordes and into Siberia.

My grandfather on my father’s side, whose surname was Kofanov, was born in a settlement in Siberia, outside the city of Omsk. His family were Ural Cossacks who had moved east. My DNA analysis, however, identified me as one-quarter Ukrainian. This is historically correct since the original Ural, or Yaik, Cossacks came to the banks of the Ural River from the River Don.

Before the Bolshevik Revolution, Ukrainian peasants were actively moving to the Russian Far East, lured by the promise of land and freedom. During Josef Stalin’s collectivization huge numbers of Ukrainian families were deported to Siberia, Central Asia and the Far North. Another wave of deportations took place after World War II, affecting western Ukraine and families across the country who had been under German occupation.

In Ireland, the Gaelic language became nearly extinct and was replaced by English. It hasn’t yet taken hold despite concerted efforts by the Irish government to revive it.

Russia similarly attempted to eradicate the Ukrainian language, often claiming that it is but a dialect of Russian and engaging in brutal policies of Russification. Until recently, Ukrainian was rarely heard in the streets of major cities in Eastern and Central Ukraine, including Kyiv.

Both countries suffered massive famines, which killed millions. (They are even known by similar names: an Gorta Mór in Gaelic and Holodomor in Ukrainian). Both famines were man-made and pursued a similar goal – to change the character of the two nations and to break their national spirit.

Ireland had its Catholic faith which reinforced its nationalism and focused its resistance to the largely Protestant Britain. Ukraine until a few weeks ago did not, but the creation of a national church is likely to change that – especially since it is coming into existence against bitter opposition from the Moscow-based Orthodox Church.

Putin meanwhile is taking a page from the British. Both Ireland and Ukraine have large groups of colonizers who settled on their land – often occupying spaces emptied of their original populations. Northern Ireland is an artificial construct cut away from the island because it happened to have a majority of descendants of Protestant settlers.

Ukraine’s eastern regions and Crimea have Russian-speaking majorities. Like the Northern Irish Protestants who didn’t want to be ruled from Dublin, they were unhappy about being governed from Kyiv. They made life difficult for the entire country and were responsible for placing the criminal Yanukovych clan in power. In 2014, Putin took advantage of this Fifth Column to split those regions from Ukraine.

He may be hoping to use similar tactics in the Baltics, in Kazakhstan and elsewhere, wherever there are Russian speakers. They are being actively encouraged by the Russian propaganda to resist national governments and to clamor to join Russia.

Putin’s strategy may prove a miscalculation, however. Look at what’s happening in Britain, where Northern Ireland is making a mockery of BritaIn’s efforts to leave the EU. The impossible task of creating a border with the EU while keeping the internal Irish border open will either sink Brexit or break up the United Kingdom. There is no solution to this problem.

Meanwhile, a sizable number of my British friends have recently discovered their Irish roots. Applications for Irish passports both from Britain and Northern Ireland have doubled in number in the wake of Brexit. They are likely to continue to rise as Brexit takes shape.

In Russia, a curious thing has been happening. I’m not aware of any scientific poll, but it seems that Russians with Ukrainian last names have tended to be much more strident in their support for the annexation of Crimea and have attacked Ukraine and Ukrainians on social media. It’s as though they are trying to show that their loyalty to Russia is beyond doubt.

However, as the Russian economy worsens and Ukraine finally finds its economic footing – and when integration with the European Union becomes reality – we’ll no doubt see many Russians, like Brits, suddenly discovering their ancestral links to Ukraine.

And one more thing. Russians tend to believe that the current spat with Kyiv is temporary. The two countries, they reason, have so much in common that they can’t remain enemies for long. Vladimir Putin’s supporters expect the situation to change if a pro-Russian president is elected in Kyiv. Opposition leaders, conversely, see Russia making amends to Ukraine once the Putin regime comes to an end.

The Irish experience suggests otherwise. A century after gaining independence, the Irish both in the republic and in the vast global Irish diaspora bear unrelenting ill will toward their former colonial masters.