On 8 August, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language of Ukraine, Taras Kremen, said that the removal of the Ukrainian-language road signs by the Russian occupation forces in Kherson Oblast is another manifestation of Russia’s linguicide policy.

“The occupiers call these actions ‘the measures for the support of safety on the road infrastructure.’ In fact, this is deliberate erosion of the Ukrainian language as a distinctive feature of the Ukrainian nation. Any actions aimed at the narrowing of the scope of the Ukrainian language are a manifestation of a criminal policy of linguicide,” he said, according to Interfax Ukraine.

Kremen says the cases of discrimination or oppression against Ukrainians based on language should be subject to international legal proceedings.

“The occupiers and collaborators, who want to force Ukrainians to use their language through reproducing the Soviet Union’s colonization policy on the Ukrainian land, will be punished,” he said.

Read more:

• A short guide to the linguicide of the Ukrainian language
• Should Ukraine take over the Russian language? Scrutinizing Prof. Snyder’s arguments
• Why Ukraine’s language law is more relevant than ever
• Ukraine’s European heritage is in its language’s DNA