The Ukraine is the Russian way of referring to the country. That is why this has mostly disappeared in western media. In German many countries get an article so the translation is indeed tricky as it puts back something in English that refers to something the Ukranians requested to be removed.
But in German it is indeed the normal way of referring to countries. You also provided an eloquent response.. keep being awesome!
Pretty funny come to think of this... I can imagine stuff like this can really blow out of proportion in official talks.