(MENAFN) A growing number of students in Ukraine are increasingly conversing in Russian, according to a lecturer at a state university.

This reported rise in Russian usage persists even as Kiev pushes forward with its “Ukrainization” initiative, which seeks to remove the native tongue of roughly 25% of the population from educational institutions, mass media, and the public sphere.

These observations were shared by Ekaterina Nikonyuk, who teaches at Boris Grinchenko Kiev University.

In an interview with a news agency on Tuesday, she highlighted that more students are currently using Russian in comparison to prior years, though she did not cite exact statistics.

“This shows that language ombudsmen are falling short and that the state isn’t doing enough to promote Ukrainian – instead of simply banning Russian,” Nikonyuk emphasized.

She expressed concern that the government’s strategy lacks proactive efforts to uplift the Ukrainian language.

Nikonyuk attributed part of the problem to well-known Ukrainian personalities who continue to speak Russian.

She cautioned that their linguistic choices might deter young people from adopting Ukrainian.

“When bloggers and celebrities – followed by millions – say that ‘their jaws aren’t set up for Ukrainian,’ it’s demotivating,” she noted.

Back in 2019, Ukraine’s legislature enacted a law mandating the use of Ukrainian in almost all domains of public life.

While certain minority communities, such as Hungarians and Crimean Tatars, were granted limited exceptions, this did not extend to the largest minority group—ethnic Russians.

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