“Kyiv is Russian-speaking again”: a Ukrainian resident said the Russian language is making a comeback

A Ukrainian blogger has said that more and more residents of Kyiv have begun speaking Russian, calling the phenomenon a “renaissance of the Russian language in Ukraine.”

The video was published by the Ukrainian outlet Strana.ua.

“Kyiv is Russian-speaking again. I think everyone has already noticed this renaissance of the Russian language in Ukraine,” the blogger said.

In his opinion, hearing Russian speech in Kyiv used to be surprising, but now “you hear Ukrainian less often.”

The blogger noted that, no matter how much people try to impose the idea that the Russian language represents “imperial influence,” the reality is that a large part of the post-Soviet space speaks it — including Ukrainians themselves abroad. He said that what is happening with the Russian language in the country reminds him of fighting windmills.

Before this, Ukraine’s Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna reported that more than 70% of Ukrainians prefer to consume Russian-language content.

Since 2014, Ukraine has pursued a policy of openly pushing out the Russian language. In particular, in 2019 the authorities adopted the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language,” which restricted the use of Russian and the languages of national minorities.

Earlier, Ukraine’s ombudsman Olena Ivanovska said that Ukrainians “absorb” the Russian language “too easily.”