The class began with a game. On a Sunday in February, in Kyiv, Ukraine, the 15 participants took turns introducing themselves in Ukrainian, trying not to make too many mistakes. The atmosphere was good-natured, with laughter coming from those in attendance. But when the young teacher asked what prompted them to sign up for this language club, the tone suddenly turned serious. "I always spoke Russian before the invasion," explained Iryna Savinova, 56, originally from the capital. "But since the Russians say they've come here to save the Russian speakers, I've decided to switch to Ukrainian. That way, I won't let them have that excuse anymore."

The woman next to her immediately continued: "I'm from Bakhmut. I want to get rid of Russian. But in Kyiv, I still hear a lot of people speaking it, it depresses me!" A third spoke up shyly. She was the only one who spoke only Russian. "I've lived in Kyiv for 30 years, but I grew up in Crimea, and I never learned Ukrainian," she admitted. "You've spent 30 years in Kyiv and you still haven't learned it?" a participant said with obvious annoyance. The exchanges became tense and the teacher stepped in, a little nervous.

Ivanna Arestanova, 20, is a volunteer with the Yedyni movement, launched in April 2022 to help people learn or improve their Ukrainian. She hates it when her classes turn into confrontations. "It's very stressful. Those who speak Russian are criticized by those who speak Ukrainian, and when there's an altercation, the Russian-only speakers don't come back." Last time, a man attacked soldiers who spoke Russian in the trenches. "One lady has a husband on the front line. She left crying."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine's independence in 1991, the population spoke both languages without any problems. In the east and south of the country, they tended to be Russian-speaking, and in the west, Ukrainian-speaking. In 2014, the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas marked the first break: Part of the population switched to Ukrainian out of patriotism, but it remained marginal.

Asserting Ukrainian identity

Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, this shift has taken on unprecedented proportions. It's a way of breaking away from Russia, but also of resisting by asserting Ukrainian identity, which is exactly what the Kremlin is seeking to exterminate. According to the state language protection commissioner, Taras Kremin, "between 60% and 80% of the population speaks Ukrainian in public today, compared with less than 50% before the offensive."

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