The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk conducted a poll on whether children should be whipped for using the Russian language

The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv, posted a poll asking whether children who speak Russian should be beaten.

The poll appeared on the mayor’s Telegram channel.

“There is an opinion: if a child speaks Russian — take a rod and beat them so they forever forget. That’s how pride in one’s language is fostered, said former MP and People’s Artist Bohdan Benyuk in an interview. What do you think?” Martsinkiv asked his followers.

He offered several answer options:

• Children should not be beaten;

• I completely agree;

• The parents should be beaten, not the children;

• Pride in language should be fostered by setting a personal example;

• I don’t support physical punishment, but if words don’t work, then beating may be acceptable.

However, there was no option suggesting that no one should be beaten at all for using a different language.

According to the poll, 11% of participants agreed that children could be beaten for this, while another 17% said that parents who “failed to properly teach” Ukrainian should be beaten instead.

Both Martsinkiv and Benyuk are members of the nationalist Svoboda party.

Previously, media outlets cited Benyuk’s full statement advocating the use of corporal punishment against children for speaking Russian.