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It's pretty complicated especially since it's been changing significantly since 2022 and even 2014 but most Ukranians understand and speak russian and a large m

by rat87 2y ago

It's pretty complicated especially since it's been changing significantly since 2022 and even 2014 but most Ukranians understand and speak russian and a large minority have or had it as a primary language. People also spoke both. It's not a straight west to east thing. Many of the cities especially not not only in the south and east were primarily russian speaking while the West and less urban areas were mostly Ukranian. Not to mention Surzhyk (mixed Ukrainan/Russian speech) or other smaller languages spoken in Ukraine. One good example is President Zelenskyy and Kvartal 95 (the comedy troupe/media company he and his friends formed) most of their shows and skits until recently were in russian. Their use of russian was not just because for export to russia or other russian speakers outside of Ukraine/Russia, it was not rare to make media aimed at a primarily Ukranian audience in russian. An Example Zelenskyy making fun of Putins claim that Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities(in russian) https://youtube.com/watch?v=tnaM-dXxpo8&list=PLfso1c1v9W3MAaqFNWStPP2qJ70CbEzAE&index=29&pp=iAQB https://youtube.com/watch?v=tnaM-dXxpo8&list=PLfso1c1v9W3MAa...

dragonwriter 2y ago
> Their use of Russian was not just because for export to russia or other russian speakers outside of Ukraine/Russia, it was not rare to make media aimed at a primarily Ukranian audience in Russian. I don't know about the other members of the troupe or the degree to which this is a factor, but Zelenskyy is himself a native Russian speaker.
- rat87 2y ago
  I'm sure it did but Zelenskyy and his shows weren't that unusual. russian was widely understood and spoken as a secondary language as well as being spoken by a significant number of Ukrainians as a primary language. It was not unusual to hear russian in Ukrainian media or see it in social media posts from Ukraine. Over the last decade and especially the last 3 years its changed a lot, the russian invasion has convinced a lot of Ukrainians including those with russian ancestors or who were born in russia to switch to Ukrainian.

by rat87 2y ago

dragonwriter 2y ago

> Their use of Russian was not just because for export to russia or other russian speakers outside of Ukraine/Russia, it was not rare to make media aimed at a primarily Ukranian audience in Russian. I don't know about the other members of the troupe or the degree to which this is a factor, but Zelenskyy is himself a native Russian speaker.

rat87 2y ago
I'm sure it did but Zelenskyy and his shows weren't that unusual. russian was widely understood and spoken as a secondary language as well as being spoken by a significant number of Ukrainians as a primary language. It was not unusual to hear russian in Ukrainian media or see it in social media posts from Ukraine. Over the last decade and especially the last 3 years its changed a lot, the russian invasion has convinced a lot of Ukrainians including those with russian ancestors or who were born in russia to switch to Ukrainian.