In my language (german) ukraine is feminine. Die ukraine. And as such, you always have to use the pronoun (die).
You can't for example say "USA haben gewählt" since the US too is feminine. It's always "Die USA haben gewählt" (The USA have voted)
So in german you say "Die ukraine ist nur eine Sideshow" which will then become "the Ukraine is just a sideshow"
Which is a very Cynical take btw but i fear that it could be somewhat true.
You can however say just the countries name if it is Neutral (das). "Deutschland hat gewählt" "germany has voted". Here it would actually be weird to use "das Deutschland". Only Exception is the United Kindom (Das vereinigte Königreich). It's constituents (england, scottland, wales) however will then again be without the pronoun. "Schottland hat heute gewählt"