Ukrainian city demolishes monument to Russian general who beat Napoleon.

[JackRiddler]

95. Languages of the Ukraine:

The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, an East Slavic language which is the native language of 65% of Ukraine's population. Russian is the native language of 33% of Ukraine's population and the rest (2%) are native speakers of other languages. Ethnologue lists 40 minority languages and dialects; nearly all are native to the former Soviet Union.

(snip)

In an October 2009 poll by FOM-Ukraine of 1,000 respondents, 52% stated they use Russian as their "Language of communication"; while 41% of the respondents state they use Ukrainian and 8% stated they use a mixture of both.[1]

A March 2010 poll[2] by Research & Branding Group showed that 65% considered Ukrainian as their native language and 33% Russian. This poll also showed the standard of knowledge of the Russian language (free conversational language, writing and reading) in current Ukraine is higher (76%) than the standard of knowledge of the Ukrainian language (69%). More respondents preferred to speak Ukrainian (46%) than Russian (38%) with 16% preferring to speak both in equal manner.

We may not like the history that produced these results, but clearly, there is a big chunk of citizens of the Ukraine who may be ethnically Ukrainian in the opinions of those who place great value on the fiction of ethnicity, but who don't therefore view themselves as Ukrainian nationalists or as anti-Russian. This is also a clash between the ethnonation and the nation of citizens. It's not unlike Yugoslavia, where most of the young were well past the old Balkan ethno-hatreds when these were revived in the wake of the neoliberal dissolution programs of the late 1980s. Suddenly you had a rediscovery of the Serbian or Croatian racial "essence." It's no coincidence that the government after the coup d'etat that got rid of the president who'd been elected by the majority includes such ethno-nationalists who want to suppress the speaking of Russian.