JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukrainians are breaking their ties with the Russian language” – Washington Post
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“One of … Putin’s central — and false — justifications for invading Ukraine, that he was defending Russian-speaking people, has backfired …. [A]cross Ukraine, people started bringing … Russian literature to local recycling stations …. Street names have been changed to honor Ukrainian heroes instead of Russian writers. Russian dishes … have been relabeled on restaurant menus. Radio stations stopped playing songs by Russian artists …. The future [o]f [the] Russian language in Ukraine is a daunting question for the roughly 30 percent of Ukrainians who speak it as their first language. After last year’s invasion, the flood of Russian-speaking refugees to western Ukraine caused tensions …. Ukraine’s parliament adopted a … bill banning the import of literature from Russia and Belarus. … Zelensky refused to sign … saying it violated [EU] rules …. The same month, Zelensky proposed making English Ukraine’s second official language. …”