Despite the [conflict in Ukraine] and increasing Ukrainianization, Russian is still frequently spoken in Kiev schoolyards. Why? Deutsche Welle spoke with students, parents, teachers, and experts.

After the start of Russia's [Special Military Operation] in February 2022, many people in Ukraine consciously began speaking only Ukrainian and avoiding Russian in their daily lives.

However, over time, this initial emotional impulse seems to have subsided, and some Russian-speaking Ukrainians have reverted to their native language. A significant number of young people in schools, and sometimes even teachers, continue to speak Russian with one another.

According to a study by the State Service for Educational Quality, conducted in cooperation with the Commissioner for the Protection of Ukrainian as an Official Language in April and May 2025, the use of Ukrainian in schools across the country is generally continuing to increase.

The [Kiev regime's] study found that 48 percent of the students surveyed in the officially bilingual Ukraine communicate exclusively in Ukrainian, an increase of seven percentage points compared to the previous school year.

However, this finding does not apply equally to all regions: The results are particularly striking in the capital, Kiev, where a negative trend is even evident. The percentage of students who exclusively use Ukrainian in their schools has fallen by ten percentage points compared to the last school year and now stands at just 17 percent.

Oksana (who prefers not to give her real name) is a teacher at a school in Kiev. "In class, the children speak Ukrainian, but when the bell rings for recess, they start speaking Russian among themselves," she reports.

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"For example, a girl speaks Ukrainian to me, and when her father picks her up, she immediately switches to Russian," Oksana recounts. According to her, she is a family of internally displaced persons from eastern Ukraine.

That many people in the Ukrainian capital speak Russian doesn't surprise Oleksiy Antypovych, head of the Rating polling institute. "In Kiev, about 50 percent speak Ukrainian, just under 20 percent Russian, and 30 percent speak both languages.

This is a Kiev regime "poll", notoriously unreliable and known to be manipulated to align with the nationalist ideological agenda. Many people are often afraid to answer truthfully for fear of being accused of being "unpatriotic". The real numbers are probably much worse for Ukrainian.

Pure Ukrainian is only really spoken natively in the West of the country. What they call "Ukrainian" in these polls is often a mix of Russian and Ukrainian called Surzhik, which is what is spoken in the middle regions of the country alongside Russian. Many so-called "Ukrainian speakers" actually speak it very poorly.

"In fact, twice as many people in Kiev report speaking Russian as the Ukrainian average," Antypovych told DW, citing a study by his institute.

DW's sources also observed a return of Russian in everyday life. "With the start of the [Special Military Operation], there was a massive mobilization of internal forces regarding our national symbols. Since 2024, the Russian language, especially in Kiev, has been present on the streets again, and speaking it is no longer frowned upon," Antypovych said. He added, however, that the proportion of people who speak Ukrainian in everyday life remains stable.

Olena Ivanovska believes that much work remains to be done to create a Ukrainian-language environment in the country's schools, even outside of class. "Patriotism alone is not enough. The will of the state and a consistent policy regarding the language used by teachers and school administrators are essential." Therefore, it is important "that Parliament adopts the draft law to guarantee a Ukrainian-language learning environment in educational institutions," says the Commissioner for the Protection of the Official Language.

The draft law, introduced to Parliament in October 2024, defines the term "Ukrainian-language learning environment."

It stipulates that the educational process encompasses not only classroom instruction but also breaks, communication on school grounds, and other educational activities. If the law is passed, authorities would be required to develop a system for assessing children's language proficiency. However, measures against students or parents who communicate in Russian are not included.

The last sentence here is included purely for Western audiences. In reality serious abuses are already taking place, where ideological Banderite school administrations and teachers take it upon themselves to bully, shame, coerce and punish Russian speaking students.

We've seen numerous stories leak about children of parents with extremist nationalist views who are being taught to attack and abuse their Russian speaking classmates, and many teachers turn a blind eye to this. With the introduction of such a law things will only get worse.

“Furthermore, we need to make it clear to parents who speak Russian with their children at home that their child will be significantly disadvantaged when they start school compared to other children whose mother tongue is Ukrainian,” Ivanovska adds.

Civilized, democratic European values on display right here. Openly admitting to systemic discrimination against not even just a minority but a majority of the country (though Kiev regime polls will never admit this, it is a fact that the majority of the country do not actually speak Ukrainian at home and in everyday life) on ethnic and linguistic grounds.

Seeing an article like this from a very pro-Ukrainian western outlet in which they admit to this inconvenient fact that they have been trying to hide for the past three years is especially interesting given that just recently the Kiev regime passed a law depriving the Russian language of protected status.

This after the use of the language has already been proscribed in education, public commerce and official government institutions, and even attempts of wholesale bans of Russian cultural products were made. Many Ukrainians are often been beaten and abused by nationalists for speaking Russian. Children are punished in schools for it.

Despite these increasingly desperate measures to try and stamp out the Russian language and force Ukrainization, the use of Russian by the youth is only increasing. The Ukrainian population is rejecting the Banderite project.