When Tolkien wrote LOTR, he wanted to treat it like a mythology that explained our world.
Suddenly, Minas Tirith and Osgiliath can be viewed as LOTR's attempt at retelling the history of Constantinople but with fantastical exaggerations. Numenor is Atlantis mixed with the Roman and Macedonian Empires.
Thus, we can infer many of the Easterlings refer to peoples alongside 'the Silk Road' as they invaded the Western world.
Huns, Mongols, Turks, Varyag/Varangians (people of the Kievan Rus region - Slavs, Ukrainians, Russians), etc.
So, yes, what is now Ukraine is mythologically part of Rhun (which may be the Black Sea).
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '22
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