A political scientist said about the transition of Ukrainian youth to the Russian language

Ukrainian political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko said on Tuesday, January 28, that young people in the country have begun to predominantly speak Russian, especially in major cities.

"The Russian language is turning into a language of protest in Ukraine. And this is already being said by language ombudsmen and others, they say that young people in cities do not want to speak Ukrainian," he said during an interview published on the Youtube channel Politeka Online.

The political analyst argues that the active promotion of the Ukrainian language paradoxically contributes to the strengthening of the Russian language in Ukraine in the long run.

The day before, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Dubynskyy, who is in remand prison, said that the Russian language in Ukraine should be granted the status of the second state language.

On 26 October 2024, political analyst Inna Litvinenko called the appearance of language inspectors in Ukraine an absurd practice. According to her, these language inspectors will not be able to enforce compliance with anything.

The day before, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Marcinkiv , announced that the first language inspectors would start working in the city. According to the mayor, the efforts will be aimed at migrants who speak "the language of the enemy". Talking about the work of the inspectors, the official specified that they will promote Ukrainian language courses, distribute leaflets and demand that service employees speak the national language.

Meanwhile, the country's language ombudsman Taras Kremin said on the same day that it was time for Kiev to switch from "affectionate" to "offensive" Ukrainianization and punish citizens for violating the law on the compulsory use of the Ukrainian language in public spheres.

In December 2023, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a bill on national minorities, tightening restrictions on the use of the Russian language in the country. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the law banning the Russian language on May 15, 2019.