Lingo In Limbo: Ukraine’s Russian Minority Debates Learning In Ukrainian
Language has long been a tripwire between Ukraine and Russia, but in Kharkiv, an eastern Ukrainian city of 1.5 million not far from the Russian border and Donbas conflict zone, it’s come down to a question about children’s future. A bill that will increase schools’ usage of Ukrainian, the state language, makes some Kharkiv parents question how easily their offspring can transition from lessons in Russian. As yet, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has not signed the bill into law, but Russia already has requested the OSCE, Council of Europe, and UN to assess the legislation, which Moscow deems discriminatory.