Serhii Plokhy

Without Russian occupation, the fact of the Crimea, there would be no, and there was no before, at least in the previous five to six years, any mass mobilizations of Russians. There was none of such mobilizations in Donbas before Gherkin and other people with military with parts of military units showed up there. So it is an excuse. You've been to Ukraine.

You know that Russian language is not persecuted in Ukraine. If you've not been to Donbass or to the Crimea, it would be difficult to find one single Ukrainian school. Not that they didn't exist at all, but it would take quite an effort for you to find it, or sometimes even to hear Ukrainian language outside either of the institutions or the farmer's market. So that's the reality.

You know that Russian language is not persecuted in Ukraine. If you've not been to Donbass or to the Crimea, it would be difficult to find one single Ukrainian school. Not that they didn't exist at all, but it would take quite an effort for you to find it, or sometimes even to hear Ukrainian language outside either of the institutions or the farmer's market. So that's the reality.

You know that Russian language is not persecuted in Ukraine. If you've not been to Donbass or to the Crimea, it would be difficult to find one single Ukrainian school. Not that they didn't exist at all, but it would take quite an effort for you to find it, or sometimes even to hear Ukrainian language outside either of the institutions or the farmer's market. So that's the reality.

That's the reality that is clear, that is visible. So imagine under those conditions and contexts that someone is persecuting ethnic Russians or Russian speakers want to believe in something like that. One important precondition is never to step your foot in Ukraine.

That's the reality that is clear, that is visible. So imagine under those conditions and contexts that someone is persecuting ethnic Russians or Russian speakers want to believe in something like that. One important precondition is never to step your foot in Ukraine.

That's the reality that is clear, that is visible. So imagine under those conditions and contexts that someone is persecuting ethnic Russians or Russian speakers want to believe in something like that. One important precondition is never to step your foot in Ukraine.

Very roughly, before the start of the war in 2014, we can talk about parity between Russian and Ukrainian and also with, as you said, clearly Ukraine being a dominant language in the West and Russian being a dominant language on the streets, certainly in the East of the country. And then in between of that, to Poles, a number of these transitional areas.

Very roughly, before the start of the war in 2014, we can talk about parity between Russian and Ukrainian and also with, as you said, clearly Ukraine being a dominant language in the West and Russian being a dominant language on the streets, certainly in the East of the country. And then in between of that, to Poles, a number of these transitional areas.

Very roughly, before the start of the war in 2014, we can talk about parity between Russian and Ukrainian and also with, as you said, clearly Ukraine being a dominant language in the West and Russian being a dominant language on the streets, certainly in the East of the country. And then in between of that, to Poles, a number of these transitional areas.

And Ukraine, in my experience, and I visited a lot of countries, not all of them, and probably maybe I will be still surprised, but in my experience, This is the only truly bilingual country that I ever visited. I lived in Canada for a long period of time. There is Quebec and the rest. And in Ukraine, you can talk in either Russian or Ukrainian in any part of the country.

And Ukraine, in my experience, and I visited a lot of countries, not all of them, and probably maybe I will be still surprised, but in my experience, This is the only truly bilingual country that I ever visited. I lived in Canada for a long period of time. There is Quebec and the rest. And in Ukraine, you can talk in either Russian or Ukrainian in any part of the country.

And Ukraine, in my experience, and I visited a lot of countries, not all of them, and probably maybe I will be still surprised, but in my experience, This is the only truly bilingual country that I ever visited. I lived in Canada for a long period of time. There is Quebec and the rest. And in Ukraine, you can talk in either Russian or Ukrainian in any part of the country.

country, and you would be understood, and you would be responded in a different language with the expectation that you would understand. And if you don't understand, that means you don't come from Ukraine. That's the reality. The war and loss of the Crimea and partial loss of Donbass if it's major industrial areas, really shifted the balance toward mostly Ukrainian-speaking regions.

country, and you would be understood, and you would be responded in a different language with the expectation that you would understand. And if you don't understand, that means you don't come from Ukraine. That's the reality. The war and loss of the Crimea and partial loss of Donbass if it's major industrial areas, really shifted the balance toward mostly Ukrainian-speaking regions.

country, and you would be understood, and you would be responded in a different language with the expectation that you would understand. And if you don't understand, that means you don't come from Ukraine. That's the reality. The war and loss of the Crimea and partial loss of Donbass if it's major industrial areas, really shifted the balance toward mostly Ukrainian-speaking regions.

Also, what you see, and you clearly pointed to that, starting with 2014, even a little bit earlier, the younger generation chooses Ukrainian. as a marker of its identity. And that started in 2014, but we have a dramatic, dramatic shift after 2022. And on the anecdotal level, I can tell you that I speak to people who

Also, what you see, and you clearly pointed to that, starting with 2014, even a little bit earlier, the younger generation chooses Ukrainian. as a marker of its identity. And that started in 2014, but we have a dramatic, dramatic shift after 2022. And on the anecdotal level, I can tell you that I speak to people who

Also, what you see, and you clearly pointed to that, starting with 2014, even a little bit earlier, the younger generation chooses Ukrainian. as a marker of its identity. And that started in 2014, but we have a dramatic, dramatic shift after 2022. And on the anecdotal level, I can tell you that I speak to people who

be in Chernihiv at the time, this is east of Crimea, at the time of the Russian aggression and bombardment and so on and so forth, who had passive knowledge of Ukrainian but spoke all their life Russian. And they would speak Ukrainian to me and when I say, okay, why are you doing that? We know each other for decades and you used Russian. And he said,