Around the western city of Lviv, a stronghold of Ukrainian patriotism, signs began to appear rapidly urging citizens to abandon Russian, the "language of the occupiers."
Max's story is thatsome TikTok usershave migrated to the West in vast numbers from the predominantly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Used to reprimand compatriots, who find it difficult to learn the official language of the country. Meanwhile, displaced people in the East have vented their anger online over being required to speak only Ukrainian in cities like Lviv.
Since the war began nearly six months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to eradicate nearly all vestiges of Ukrainian identity.
Contextually, Ukrainian and Russian belong to the same Slavic language group. . However, Ukrainian feels more melodic and some Ukrainian characters are not used in Russian and vice versa.
Certainly, the issue of language prompted some heated debate, but the discussion remained largely cordial. One recent evening, at a small craft beer hangout in Lviv, a loud debate among college students over the use of the Russian language ended with the singing of a patriotic Ukrainian song.
If anything, at least according to what I have observed in my visits to major cities in recent months, the new sense of patriotism has led to the determination that "we are all in this together." It creates and blurs the gap between languages. Putin claims that the people of Ukraine are notethnically differentfrom their Russian neighbors, but people here have taken steps to prove the opposite.
They learn the Ukrainian language, share nationalist slogans and songs on social media, and proudly display their country's distinctive blue and yellow flag. In fact, the exterior wall of his second building in Odessa appears to have been spray painted with the Ukrainian flag.
But for good reason, the issue has become a large part of the conversation about war and identity. Putin, in particular, has said his aggression was justified becauseit is under attack to protect theRussian-speaking population. Ukraine.
History Repeating
Decades after the end of the Soviet state's policy of eradicating Ukrainian nationalism and language, It seems that history is repeating itself. Russian troops and their agents occupy more land.
This strategy includes restrictions on the use of the Ukrainian language and access to Ukrainian media and online sites. This includes tactics such as changingschool curricula to match thepro-Russian narrative, and switchingstreets. to Russia,blocking sites like Google,replacing Ukrainian media with national channels,Ukrainian mobile operators to Russian ones to move the trapped inhabitants. A region occupied by Russian internet services where all Western platforms are blocked.
The Kremlin also forcibly deported at least one million Ukrainians to Russia, -- many through so-called filtration centers -- to the Soviet Union.Even Putin's attempts to weaponize food, sent to labor camps in concentration camps,Ukraine's Stealing graindeliberately shelling farmland and blocking agricultural products from exiting Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea was Stalin's plan in 1932–33. Remind me of what I've been through. At that time, he sought to overthrow the will of the Ukrainian people by causing a great famine known as the Holodomor. Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians starved to death in the very fertile land called "the breadbasket of Europe." "
mother tongue
On the question of Ukrainian language, there is little agreement on what meets the criteria for proper usage. Ukrainian hybrid forms Yes, in cities such as Kyiv you will often hear a word called 'Surzhik', and tech geeks have incorporated many English words such as 'agenda', 'cool' and 'timeline' into their everyday Ukrainian conversations. I am taking it in.
told me they were building shelters for displaced Ukrainians,.
When I read recently at the trendy Odessa Club, the on-stage language switched seamlessly between Ukrainian and Russian. Although speaking, the show's star, writer and actress Elena Andreyichkova read most of her work in Ukrainian, even though Russian is her native language.
Russia She, who is the author of six books in the Ukrainian language, does not speak Ukrainian at home. But in 2019, she said, "I realized there is no turning back. Ukraine must have its own language. Everything I do is now translated into Ukrainian or written in Ukrainian It is written," he said. She told me this in a conversation earlier this month while sitting behind a statue of Catherine II in Odessa. Catherine II was instrumental in the discovery of the city and the expansion of Russian influence there.
It is not hard to see why many Ukrainiansprefer to use theRussian language. About one-third ofUkrainians speak Russian as their native language, according to a May 2019 survey. And in last year's survey, nearly half of Ukrainianssaid they had relatives across the border in Russia.
Even the TV comedy series"Servant of the People",which starred Volodymyr Zelensky before he became president of Ukraine and helped build Zelensky's fame, was originally Filmed in Russian.
But Ukrainians are trying to adapt. Many Russian-speaking refugees have enrolled in free Ukrainian language classes in Lviv. In Odessa, many residents told me that since the invasion they had spontaneously come to speak Ukrainian. It is natural to do so. For example, the school year is due to start in a few weeks. Will the children of displaced Russian-speaking families in the western regions of the country be treated the same as their Ukrainian-speaking classmates?
And the fleeing of the country by millions of Ukrainian women and children has provided opportunities for children to speak Ukrainian in places like Poland. In Poland, hundreds of thousandsof people are expected to enroll in Polish schools. Fall -- May be restricted.
At least domestically, amid Putin's divisive tactics, disagreements over language must not be allowed to undermine the unprecedented unity and patriotism that has surfaced since the February invasion. Hmm. It will only affect the Kremlin's strategy to wipe Ukrainian identity off the map.
Andreychykova seems to have wise advice. "Let's fight the war first. Then we can talk about languages. Most importantly, for the time being, people are all focused on ending the fight for freedom."