Where to start today? Just speak Ukrainian with your children. And let them reply to you in Ukrainian — as best as they can, however it comes out.

I grew up in a Russian-speaking family. I personally experienced what used to be considered normal — you could live in Ukraine without learning Ukrainian. You could study physics, chemistry, mathematics — everything but the culture and history of your own country. Ukrainian wasn’t needed — not in school, not at university, not in business.

Until 2014, like most people, I lived in a world where Ukrainian was seen as optional — something nice to have, but not essential. After 2014, that began to change. Slowly, awkwardly, but it changed.

We started bringing Ukrainian into business: we held “Ukrainian Language Days,” used it in meetings, wrote internal texts. Colleagues from Donbas, Dnipro, Odesa tried switching to Ukrainian. It was a process — slow, but sincere.

Then came 2022. And many things became clear. I realized that the war didn’t start only because of weapons. It started because we had lived too long within someone else’s cultural code. Because I myself spoke Russian — and by doing so, even unconsciously, I fed someone else’s system of meanings.

There are no “Odesa,” “Dnipro,” or “Kharkiv” versions of the language. There are only two — Ukrainian and Russian. And if you don’t choose your own, another will be chosen for you. Our generation has been given a difficult but honest role — to lead the country into the Ukrainian language. This isn’t the government’s task. It’s the task of each person — a parent, a leader, a citizen.

Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it takes effort. But without it, there will be no united Ukraine. And do you know why I consider the Ukrainian language so important? Because it shapes our identity.

We don’t need to invent a history — we already have one. Our story began a thousand years ago. But all this time, even in independence, we continued to live in linguistic dependence.

I don’t want to blame anyone — not myself, not the authorities who never created a proper model for transition and adaptation. The war did it for everyone. Quickly. Harshly. But honestly. It forced us to realize and accept what is ours — our spirit, our identity, our country.

Where to start today? Just speak Ukrainian with your children. And let them reply to you in Ukrainian — as best as they can, however it comes out. That’s how icebergs move — millimeter by millimeter, but in the right direction. And that’s how we’ll shift this enormous iceberg of Russian influence.

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