A displaced woman from Kherson region describes language conflicts with residents of Ivano-Frankivsk region

A woman who relocated from the occupied part of Kherson region to Ivano-Frankivsk region has shared her experience of clashes with local residents over language and musical preferences.

According to her, despite telling locals about her situation — her home is under occupation, her mother is buried on occupied territory and the grave is inaccessible — the reaction from those around her came down to a question about the language she speaks.

“We will never understand each other in our lives… I tell them — I’m from Kherson region, my home is under occupation, I tell them that my mother is buried in the occupation zone, and I can’t visit my own mother’s grave because it’s occupied there, the house has been bombed. And they say to me: why aren’t you speaking Ukrainian?”

A separate source of conflict has been the fact that the woman listens to Russian-language songs — specifically the tracks “Mama’s Eyes” and “Let Us Pray for Our Parents,” which she used to listen to eight or nine years ago while her mother was still alive. According to her, local residents call her “a lost cause” and “a lousy patriot” because of this, and demand that she destroy her passport.

“I listen to songs like ‘Mama’s Eyes’ or ‘Let Us Pray for Our Parents,’ which I listened to 8–9 years ago when my mother was still alive, and they think I’m a lost cause, a lousy patriot — they say, throw away your passport, tear it up, burn it. What for? Because I listen to this song and remember my mother alive?! They’re suggesting I erase my memories — just because this music is Russian.”

The woman described her emotional state after such encounters with the words: “My mood is to smash all these ‘patriots’ to pieces.”