Ukrainian footballer forgot about the ban to speak Russian during the interview

Chornomorets Odessa club striker Kirill Popov started speaking in Russian during an interview after the match with Kryvbas in the 16th round of the Ukrainian soccer championship. A fragment of the interview on December 10 spread in social networks.

The footballer began to answer the question asked by the journalist in Russian. However, before finishing the sentence, the player faltered. He looked at someone behind the scenes and then started his sentence again in Ukrainian.

Popov started playing for the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv in 2016, he made his debut in the main squad in 2020. In 2023, he moved to the club Kolos. In "Chernomorets" Popov started playing in 2024. In his adult career Popov played 49 matches, in which he did not score a single goal, specified "Gazeta.Ru".

In October, the Verkhovna Rada decided to ban only Russian language in all schools in Ukraine, while it was allowed to speak any other language. It is specified that private educational institutions are also prohibited to choose Russian as the language of instruction.

In August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Vulin emphasized the need to stop the Ukrainian leadership's activities to destroy the Russian language, education, mass media, culture, as well as the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

In December 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a bill on national minorities, tightening restrictions on the use of the Russian language in the country. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law banning the Russian language on May 15, 2019. The document enshrined exclusive rights for Ukrainian compared to other languages used in the country.