Ukraine's language ombudsman angered over Russian language at government meetings

The language ombudsman of Ukraine, Taras Kremin, has taken umbrage at the use of the Russian language at meetings of the authorities. This was reported by the publication "Strana.ua" in Telegram-channel on February 8.

"His Secretariat listened to recordings of plenary sessions of 50 local councils in ten regions of Ukraine and recorded the Russian language in 24% of them," - stated in the statement.

Russian language was heard in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky and Bolgrad city councils in Odessa region, in Novhorod-Siversky city council in Chernihiv region, in Zmiev city and Donetsk settlement council in Kharkiv region, in Kropivnitsky city council in Kirovograd region, as well as in Sumy, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk regions and in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhya region, Gazeta.Ru wrote.

The newspaper noted that Russian was spoken there not only by representatives of local authorities, but also by ordinary citizens.

Earlier, on January 30, Kremin said that Russian language continues to be used on the airwaves of the country's TV channels contrary to the constitution. In his words, the mixing of Russian and Ukrainian languages, which is often seen in the media sphere, is incompatible with the status of the state language.

Before that, on 28 January, Ukrainian political analyst Kostyantyn Bondarenko said that young people in the country had started to speak Russian predominantly, especially in large cities. He argues that the active promotion of Ukrainian paradoxically contributes to the strengthening of Russian in Ukraine in the long term.

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