Putin Backs Himself Further Into A Ukrainian Corner After Threats Of Nuclear Warfare Experts Say
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s renewed nuclear threats have raised fears that his plans for escalation in Ukraine may not be limited to mobilizing more troops.
While he has issued apocalyptic threats against the West before, Putin’s thinly veiled warnings in a rare national address Wednesday signaled that he was willing to raise the risk of nuclear conflict to avoid an embarrassing military defeat.
Whether Kyiv and its allies should now be more concerned about the threat was up for debate, analysts said.
NBC NEWS
Russian Language In Ukrainian Politics
The Russian language in Ukraine is recognized as the “language of a national minority”. Ukrainian is the only state language every other language is declared to be the “language of a national minority” in the Constitution of Ukraine adopted by the parliament in 1996, but only Russian is explicitly named. Article 10 of the Constitution reads: “In Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of Russian, and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine, is guaranteed“. The Constitution declares Ukrainian language as the state language of the country, while other languages spoken in Ukraine are guaranteed constitutional protection, but are not in practice protected from book bans. The Ukrainian language was adopted as the state language by the Law on Languages adopted in Ukrainian SSR in 1989 Russian was specified as the language of communication with the other republics of Soviet Union. Ukraine signed the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages in 1996, but it was only partially ratified, and only in 2002 by the Parliament
In 1994, a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level, but it was ignored by Parliament.
Ukrainization In Modern Ukraine
Since the Euromaidan of 2013â2014, the Ukrainian government has issued several laws aimed at encouraging Ukrainization in the media, in education and in other spheres.
In February 2017, the Ukrainian government banned the commercial importation of books from Russia, which had accounted for up to 60% of all titles sold in Ukraine.
On May 23, 2017, the Ukrainian parliament approved the law that most broadcast content should be in Ukrainian .
In January 2022, a law requiring all print media to be published in Ukrainian came into force. It did not ban publication in Russian, however it stipulated that a Ukrainian version of equivalent circulation and scope must be published â which is not a profitable option for publishers. Critics argue that the law could disenfranchise the country’s Russian-speakers.
You May Like: How To Say Be In Sign Language
President Zelensky: Ukraine Cannot Be Intimidated We United Even More Instead
The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
The full text of the speech is provided below:
Fellow Ukrainians!
Another day of our defense. A difficult day.
Restoration work is currently underway across the country. We will restore all objects that were damaged by today’s attack by Russian terrorists. It’s only a matter of time. I tasked all structures of our state to ensure recovery as fast as possible.
In some cities and regions, where there were blackouts due to shelling, the electricity supply has already been restored.
As of now: Kharkiv region – 50% of energy supply has been restored. Energy crews need several hours to restore electricity supply to the majority of districts.
Poltava region – restored almost everywhere. Mykolaiv region, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa region – connected. Cherkasy – connected. Khmelnytskyi – there is light in most parts of the city.
In some cities and districts, efforts are still needed to give people electricity. Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kyiv and Kyiv region, Lviv region, Ternopil region, Dnipropetrovsk region – we are working. Somewhere it takes hours, somewhere you have to wait a little longer, but the result will be everywhere.
Unfortunately, 12 people died today in this terrorist attack. More than 80 were wounded or injured. Everyone who applied for help gets it.
Only in the last hours…
16:28 “Shahed” was destroyed, Litky district.
Glory to Ukraine!
The Ukrainian Language Is Having A Moment To Putins Ears Its A Shot Against Russian Speakers
KYIV, Ukraine War or no war, Andrii Shymanovskiy believes he wields one of the most powerful weapons against Moscow: the Ukrainian language.
Just over a year ago, the 23-year-old Lviv-based actor and Ukrainian-language instructor began to post TikTok videos explaining the nuances of his mother tongue, once largely secondary to Russian in Ukrainian life but increasingly a centerpiece of efforts to emphasize a distinct Ukrainian identity and culture.
The videos attract millions of views with their breezy style and comic riffs on Ukrainian life. They also, however, touch one of the core complexities in the struggles with Russia and within Ukraine itself.
Language is at the nexus of Ukraines cultural and political crosscurrents. For some, the Ukrainian language is a source of the countrys character and should dominate public life. Others give greater weight to Ukraines multilingual mix of Ukrainian, Russian and other languages as part of the nations essence.
Moscow, however, has used the language issue to paint the Kyiv government as ethnocentric fascists bent on tyrannizing Ukraines Russian-speaking population. That view is widely rejected in Ukraine, including among many in Russian-speaking areas. Still, a Ukrainian law aimed to increase the use of Ukrainian has given the Kremlin further fodder for its propaganda campaign.
Also Check: World’s Most Spoken Languages
Three Nato Allies Still Have To Approve Sweden And Finlands Entry Into The Alliance
Three NATO member countries have yet to sign ratification protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance.
Out of NATO’s 30 member countries, Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey are the last holdouts to grant Sweden and Finland membership.
In May, both nations began the formal process of applying to NATO as Russia’s war in Ukraine raged. All 30 members of the alliance have to ratify the countries’ entry into the group.
Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed ratification documents following a 95-1 Senate vote to bring Finland and Sweden into NATO.
Amanda Macias
Vocabulario Ucraniano Y Ruso
Algunas de las diferencias más notables entre el ucraniano y el ruso están en su vocabulario. Esto suele ser con lo que tropieza un hablante del ruso que intenta entender ucraniano y viceversa: muchas de las palabras más comunes del ruso se ven completamente diferentes de su traducción en ucraniano. Habiendo dicho esto, ya que los idiomas provienen de un ancestro en común, muchas veces el hablante de un idioma puede deducir el significado de una palabra según sus raíces. Del mismo modo, un hablante del español puede ver la palabra cane del italiano, asociarla a can y entender, con un poco de esfuerzo, que se trata de perro.
A continuación puedes ver cómo estos idiomas comparten parte de su vocabulario, mientras que otras palabras pueden ser muy diferentes:
| Ucraniano |
|---|
Read Also: Limits To Freedom Of Speech
Suspension Of Visa Facilitation
The Council adopted a decision that fully suspends the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia. Consequently, the general rules of the visa code will apply to Russian citizens. This will result in:
- an increase in the visa application fee from 35 to 80
- the need to present additional documentary evidence
- increased visa processing times
- more restrictive rules for the issuance of multiple-entry visas
The decision entered into force on the day of its adoption and applies as of 12 September 2022.
Ukrainian Mayor Urges Residents In Russian
The Ukrainian-elected mayor of the city of Melitopol is urging those in Russian-occupied areas of the country not to partake in the so-called “referendums” being held by Russian authorities.
“We call on the residents of the occupied territories not to participate in the pseudo-referendum in any way,” Ivan Fedorov wrote via Telegram.
“Participation in it is to support the bloody plan to escalate the war against Ukraine, to voluntarily become part of a closed totalitarian society, to assume part of the responsibility for war crimes, to agree to the mobilization of men aged 16-55 to replenish the cannon fodder of the Russian Army, to commit a criminal offense.”
“Don’t open the door to agitators. Do not go to the polling stations. Completely ignore the entire election process. Stay as far as possible from Russian military and enemy equipment. Our heroic armed forces of Ukraine will definitely liberate all occupied territories from racism,” Federov said, adding, “most importantly, participation in a pseudo-referendum is the worst betrayal.”
Natasha Turak
Don’t Miss: Language Development Activities For 4-5 Year Olds
‘the Situation Is Far From Rosy’
Danilkova claimed age was behind her family’s pro-Putin sympathies.
“Older generations of Lithuanians are closer to Russian people,” she said. “They only consume Russian news and mostly talk to other Russian speakers.
“They don’t hear other points of view,” Danilkova added.
Irrespective of their source, the views of Lithuania’s Russian speakers are impacting society.
Dr Margarita eelgyt, director of international relations and political science at Vilnius University, said they were creating “under the surface tensions”.
She said many of the Russian-speaking community are concerned about government-led initiatives to rename the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania in Vilnius, due to the Ukraine war, as well as dismantling Soviet statues.
Russian speakers are also increasingly viewed by Lithuanians with suspicion, according to eelgyt.
“There are certain prevailing stereotypes that cause a lack of trust,” she said, citing how Russian speakers’ intentions to join the Lithuanian army had been met with suspicion and hostility in public debates.
Regional Officials Play A Central Information Role
These days, Ukrainian mayors, governors and defence officials have a Telegram, Twitter or Facebook account and inform audiences about developments in their jurisdictions right away, without any approval of higher-ups in Kyiv.
Ukrainians rely on their posts, live streams and videos and appreciate their sincerity.
There are new national stars such as Oleksiy Arestovych, an aide to Zelenskyy.
Arestovych has been hosting daily news conferences since day one of the invasion.
His optimistic, soothing and sarcastic briefings have made him the psychotherapist of all Ukraine and a meme advertising sedative pills named after him has been circulating online.
And when Arestovych is not able to deny or confirm something, he uses other ways of getting his message across.
On April 1, an explosion roiled Belgorod, a western Russian city that borders Ukraine and hosts military bases and depots. It destroyed a giant fuel storage and was widely ascribed to a Ukrainian missile attack.
Maybe, someone had a cigarette in the wrong place? Arestovych said and winked.
Another wartime media darling is Vitaliy Kim, a governor of the southern Mykolaiv region.
In his videos, tweets and Facebook posts, Kim, whose father is ethnic Korean, mostly speaks Russian.
But nobody seems to mind, contrary to what the Kremlin says about the discrimination against Russian-speakers in Nazi Ukraine.
Read Also: Cancel Culture And Free Speech
Russian Forces Have Forcibly Deported As Many As 16 Million Ukrainians Us Official Says
Russian forces have forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians into Russia, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council said.
“Numerous sources indicate that Russian authorities have interrogated, detained and forcible deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens,” Michele Taylor told the U.N. Council, urging its members to investigate “the growing evidence of Russia’s filtration operations, forced deportations and disappearances.”
Ukraine and Western governments have accused Russian forces of forcibly moving Ukrainian nationals to “filtration camps” and then transporting them to Russia. Moscow has rejected the accusations, calling them “fantasy.”
The forced deportation of civilians from one country to another is considered by the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross to be a war crime.
Natasha Turak
President Zelensky: Russian Terrorists Have Two Targets Energy Facilities And People
The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
The full text of the speech is provided below:
Ukrainians!
The morning is tough. We are dealing with terrorists.
Dozens of missiles, Iranian “Shaheds”. They have two targets.
Energy facilities throughout the country. Kyiv region and Khmelnytskyi region, Lviv and Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Zhytomyr region, Kirovohrad region, the south of the country.
They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are incorrigible.
The second target is people.
Such a time and such goals were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible.
But. We are Ukrainians. We help each other. We believe in ourselves. We restore everything destroyed.
There may be temporary power outages now, but there will never be an outage of our confidence – our confidence in victory.
Why such strikes exactly? The enemy wants us to be afraid, wants to make people run. But we can only run forward – and we demonstrate this on the battlefield. It will continue to be so.
Rescuers are working now. Our air defense system is working. 38 aerial targets have already been shot down.
Please stay in shelters today. Thanks to the help of our military, everything will be fine.
Always follow the safety rules. And always remember: Ukraine existed before this enemy appeared, and Ukraine will exist after it.
Don’t Miss: Different Text To Speech Voices
Russias War Is The Backdrop For Many Personal Life Decisions These Days
During the service at Almatys Ascension Cathedral, strains of Church Slavic rise from the choir. Lord have mercy, they sing in the proto-Russian language still used in the Orthodox Church.
As the congregation disperses, parishioners chat among themselves, in Russian as always, the language almost universally spoken by Slavic communities in Kazakhstans cities. But if Father Yakov Voronstov, 36, has his way, that may change.
Like many mother-tongue speakers of Russian in Kazakhstan, Father Yakov studied Kazakh at school and university, albeit in a largely desultory fashion since he saw little likelihood of using the language in daily life. Everything changed on February 24, the day that Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
February 24 was a massive blow. As a Russian, as a person with a good grounding in Russian literature and as somebody who has taught Russian philosophy in a seminary for four years, I was alive to the dangers of philosophical myths and imperial fantasies, he told Eurasianet. This monstrosity lived somewhere deep within the Russian worldview. And here it was taking shape. And I saw in this a threat for myself and my native land: Kazakhstan.
Father Yakov said the war has not quashed his love for the classics of Russian literature, but he resolved to renounce anything that smacked of chauvinism and militarism.
I am a Kazakhstani and I will speak Kazakh,” he told Eurasianet over a coffee in a cafe near the Ascension Cathedral.
Russian Troops Labelled Rashists
Rashist is another epithet frequently used to describe Russian troops.
The neologism combines Russian, racist and fascist and is immediately understandable to those who grew up in the former Soviet Union.
Even though the term fascist refers to Benito Mussolinis regime in Italy, in the USSR, it mostly denoted German Nazis whose army and allies occupied most of Ukraine during World War II.
Some anti-Soviet Ukrainians collaborated with Nazis and have been lionised by post-Soviet governments moves the Kremlin-friendly media focus on.
Because in Vladimir Putins Russia, the Kremlin-approved story of Soviet Moscows role in defeating Nazism, which some observers consider exaggerated, has become a pillar of official dogma.
Both warring sides use German military terms as degrading slurs.
The Kremlin habitually calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a Nazi, even though he grew up in a Russian-speaking Jewish family and his grandfather lost family during the Holocaust.
Ukrainians may call a Russia-appointed mayor of an occupied town a Gauleiter, a German term for an occupied regions satrap, or simply call a collaborator a Polizei, German for police.
But Ukraines wartime language has gone far beyond the use of German or Tolkiens prose.
Ukrainian leaders, officials and military officers communicate with mass media and the public in new and effective ways in an information war.
You May Like: Maid Of Honor Speeches Examples
Long Lines Are Building At Russia’s Borders As Many Try To Flee Mobilization Call
Long lines of cars are building up at Russia’s borders with its neighbors, numerous news agencies have reported, as many Russians try to leave the country following President Vladimir Putin’s call on Wednesday for “partial” mobilization to fight in Ukraine.
Some men have waited as long as 24 hours, as governments in European countries debate whether to allow the fleeing Russians into their countries.
“I have been waiting in my car since Thursday afternoon,” one man at the Russian-Georgian border was cited by The Guardian as saying. “Everyone is worried that the border will be closed by the time we get anywhere close to it,” he said.
Videos posted to social media show some men using bicycles and scooters to cut through the standstill traffic. By Thursday, more than 1,300 people had been arrested in Russia for protesting Putin’s mobilization order.
Natasha Turak
What Does The Eu Say About Russias Invasion Of Ukraine
The EU strongly condemns Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. It also condemns Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s military aggression.
Timeline
Since February 2022, the European Council and the Council of the European Union have been meeting regularly to discuss the situation in Ukraine from different perspectives.
The use of force and coercion to change borders has no place in the 21st century. Tensions and conflict should be resolved exclusively through dialogue and diplomacy.
European Council conclusions, 24 February 2022
EU leaders demanded on several occasions that Russia immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from Ukraine and fully respect Ukraines territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
They emphasised the right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny and commended the people of Ukraine for their courage in defending their country.
In response to the military aggression, the EU has massively expanded sanctions against Russia, by adding a significant number of persons and entities to the sanctions list, and by adopting unprecedented measures.
The EU has shown unity and strength and has provided Ukraine with humanitarian, political, financial and military support.
Ukraine belongs to our European family.
EU leaders statement, 10 March 2022
Recommended Reading: The Language Of Medicine 12th Edition