Interesting. I know a lot less about the Balkans than the (former) USSR proper. Wasn't aware Serbs (which I'm going to have to assume out of the former Yugoslav nations have a historical memory most mirroring that of Russians) shared that same idea. Would've thought they viewed Croats in that light. Were their confrontations between Ukrainian and Yugoslav forces in the forties?
They definitely view Croats in that light too - the trope according to which more than half the Croats are covert or open Ustashe supporters and all that. There were no Yugoslav-Ukrainian confrontations in WW2, the relationship is indirect: Serbs and Russians feel a sense of brotherhood (already going back for a long time, of course; the Serbian struggle for independence from the Turks is relevant here, as is WW1) and Russia's side of the conflict is therefore more popular in Serbia than the Ukrainian side, and hence Croats, on the other hand, feel close to the Ukrainians. You also saw it during the World Cup, when some Croat players dedicated their win against Russia to the Ukrainians.
Of course these are generalizations and many people in all these societies mentioned don't think this way, but it's a type of thought that's prevalent.
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