Kyiv's Ukrainian-only language policy has failed. It is time to recognize the realities of history (and European rules) by recognizing Russian. Russian and Ukrainian, being very similar languages, are understood by everyone in Ukraine. But if somebody addresses you in Russian in Lviv, he must be a tourist. In this formerly Polish town, now the unofficial capital of western Ukraine, Ukrainian rules the streets. In eastern Donetsk, meanwhile, a person speaking with a Lviv accent would be regarded as an alien. Culturally, the Ukrainian nation is no longer homogenous. Christian Easter is respected as "a truly great holiday" by 97 percent of western Ukrainians, according to a recent poll by the Kiev-based Oleksandr Razumkov think tank. It is of similar significance to only 65.2 percent of their southern compatriots, and for 25.4 percent of them it is "just an ordinary official holiday." May Day is a "great holiday" for only 8.1 percent of western Ukrainians, but as many as 40.4 percent of easterners regard it as such. Read more.
