I believed same narrative as you, I was born near border (native Russian speaker) and we do have суржик, never liked it. Later I've traveled to Ukrainian Carpat

I believed same narrative as you, I was born near border (native Russian speaker) and we do have суржик, never liked it. Later I've traveled to Ukrainian Carpathians, they have beautiful language there, I liked it and learned it. When I've been in Europe it was Ukrainian which was close to these languages, not Russian. Sure people understand when you speak Russian with Ukrainian accent - they speak Russian, they would understand without accent too. They speak Russian in Croatia and Slovak too - not a lot, but some do, it proves nothing. The truth is language division is political, it is dialects all around. You believe in narrative that suits Russia politics. But the story works both ways - one can argue that Russian is redneck language, not a proper Kievan Rus descendant, its people can't even communicate with other Slavs. I've been to Moscow, funny accent. I've been to Russian village (under Kursk), they speak Russian there, as Ukrainian speaker I should know. So you know 1st hand, I know 1st hand, how about I don't say shit about Russian and you don't say shit about Belarusian and Ukrainian?