You're reading: Ukrainian language defenders to fight until the end, according to declaration

An indefinite hunger strike in support of the Ukrainian language, which is taking place near the Ukrainian House in Kyiv, will continue until the language law is canceled, its participants have said.

“Our position is final, conscious and irrevocable. We will stay here to protect the Ukrainian language, freedom of speech and human rights with our main demand – to cancel the bill on state language policy. Like-minded people are coming to us in answer to the call of their own conscience and heart. So, we will stay here until our victory,” the protesters said in a declaration.

The declaration adopted by the committee of people on a hunger strike, which is timed to another anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, was read out by a 26-year-old participant in the hunger strike, Oksana Nezhyvenko:

“On this historic day of the proclamation of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine, we welcome all fellow citizens and make our own statement. We sincerely thank all our relatives, the clergy of all confessions, intellectuals, the committee in support of the Ukrainian language, representatives of political forces and all people of good will for their attitude towards us with the request to stop the hunger strike, taking care of our health,” reads the declaration.

Eleven people were on hunger strike on Monday, and one more citizen joined them on the same day.

As reported, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed the language bill on July 3. Around 700 people gathered near the Ukrainian House in protest against the passing of the document immediately after the vote. Several people’s deputies went on a hunger strike.

On July 6, the opposition political forces announced that the protest near the Ukrainian House was over. However, some citizens decided to continue the hunger strike near the Ukrainian House.