Turkic ethnicity descended from various Oghuz (Uz, Berendei, Pecheneg) and Kipchak (
Cuman) tribes. Cumans, in particular, are known to come to the Ukrainian
steppe from Taklamakan desert in the
Tarim basin of what is now a part of China's
Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Not to be confused with Hutsuls (who are ethnically Romanian), Lemkos (who are ethnically Polish) and Boikos (who are ethnically Slovak) of western Ukraine and ethnic Belarusians (Pinchuks and Poleshuks) in the northern part of the country.