Summary 

“What’s in a Name: The First Language War of the 21st Century” explores how language policy in Ukraine has shaped national identity, political conflict, and personal experience. Using his own story as a starting point, the author describes how being compelled to adopt the Ukrainian version of his Russian name symbolised a broader pattern of linguistic enforcement that, in his view, marginalized Russian speakers for decades.

He argues that Ukraine’s 1996 constitutional decision to establish Ukrainian as the sole state language planted the seeds of long-term social tension, especially in a multilingual country where Russian functioned as a widespread vehicular language. Drawing on public-opinion data and linguistic theory, the essay contends that Ukrainian language policy evolved into a form of exclusion, ultimately contributing to political polarization, cultural alienation, and, indirectly, violent conflict.

The piece contrasts inclusive, organic models of language development—such as Kotliarevsky’s literary contributions—with modern policies that critics say restrict minority languages and equate identity with linguistic conformity. It concludes that Ukraine’s language struggle exemplifies a 21st-century “language war,” where issues of power and belonging overshadow linguistic diversity, and where the insistence on a single state language may have deepened, rather than resolved, national divisions.

What’s in a Name: The First Language War of the 21st Century

by Vladimir Ovsiannikov

The phrase "what's in a name?" suggests that a name is a superficial label that doesn't reflect the true essence of a person or thing. This idea, popularized by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, argues that the name itself holds no intrinsic value - a rose by any other name would "smell as sweet". However, the answer is complex: while names are arbitrary, they can also carry significant weight, shaping identity, connecting to family history, and representing hopes and expectations.

A name is a fundamental part of our identity, and how we and others use it can shape who we become. My name is Vladimir. However, most of my life I lived in Ukraine and had to face numerous attempts – in both Soviet Ukraine and “independent” Ukraine – to call me Volodymyr. I tried to protest – to no avail. Despite my objections, Ukrainian bureaucracy smuggled the hated variant of my name – Volodymyr – into my passport. They even furnished me with a paper explaining to me why I had no right to my Russian name – Vladimir.

Still, I remain Vladimir, just as Vladimir Putin and quite unlike Volodymyr Zelensky whose personality deepened my grudge against the Ukrainian version of my name that became absolutely hostile to my real identity.

In the fourth year of my happy Canadian life in the loving and comfortable home of my junior son Vlad the name in my passport carries on unpleasant reminiscences of undemocratic and heavy-handed linguistic policy pursued in Ukraine hostile and intolerant to the culture of difference, especially if that culture is Russian.

The outburst of wishful thinking in 2014 put Ukraine on a path to hell under the smoke screen of European aspirations masking most vulgar, intolerant and aggressive nationalist slogans paradoxically and opportunistically exploited by Timoshenko, Poroshenko, Zelensky, Klichko, Tyahnybok and other people of Jewish extraction who wheedled their way to power to line their pockets with money.

Language policy was always high on their agenda to divert the attention of the people from their nepotism, cronyism, kickbacks, bribery and all-encompassing corruption that let them flourish at the expense of naïve Western tax-payers whom they had managed to turn round their little finger before the corruption scandal launched by the Mindich’s tapes.

Language is rarely just about grammar and vocabulary; it is about power, identity and allegiance. In Ukraine, the question of which tongue should dominate public life has evolved from a domestic policy measure into what one can consider a full‐blown language war  -  with dramatic consequences for society, statehood and survival.

Gallop Poll about the native language in Ukraine

The glaring lie that triggered off Ukrainian civil war in 2014 is that Russian is spoken by the minority.

The Ukrainian Language War: How Words Became Weapons

In The Ukrainian Language War, linguist and cultural historian Vladimir Ovsiannikov examines how decades of language policy and identity politics set the stage for one of the most devastating conflicts of the 21st century.

The book traces the evolution of Ukraine’s “linguistic front,” exploring how the marginalization of Russian speakers, politicization of culture, and competing Western and Russian narratives created a war of words that preceded the war of weapons.

Combining rigorous scholarship with clear analysis, the author challenges readers to consider how language itself can be used to unite—or divide—nations.

With historical insight and a critical eye, The Ukrainian Language War calls for renewed attention to dialogue, inclusion, and linguistic coexistence in a fractured world.

 Language Politics in Ukraine: The First "Language War“ of the 21st Century

by Vladimir Ovsiannikov

Language is rarely just about grammar and vocabulary; it is about power, identity and allegiance. In Ukraine, the question of which tongue should dominate public life has evolved from a domestic policy measure into what one can consider a full‐blown language war — with dramatic consequences for society, statehood and survival.

Gallop Poll about the native language in Ukraine

The glaring lie that triggered off Ukrainian civil war in 2014 is that Russian is spoken by the minority 

What might be the motivation behind the proclamation in 1996 of Ukrainian as the sole state language of the country by the Ukrainian Constitution, is a matter of discussion, but in doing so the founding fathers planted a mine under Ukrainian “independence” that was bound to explode one day like it did.

There are approximately 20 languages spoken in Ukraine. According to the 2001 census, 67% of the population speak Ukrainian and 30% speak Russian as their first language. The census relied upon answers to the direct question about one’s mother tongue. The Wikipedia is mistaken here, because the most important questions in public opinion polling techniques are indirect questions, as it was demonstrated by Gallop Poll. So, to the direct question “Which language do you consider your native?” very often an incorrect answer follows. The results of the Gallop Poll for 2008 are clear: the native language for the overwhelming number of citizens of Kazakhstan (68%), Ukraine (83%) and Belarus (92%) is Russian.

The linguist John McWhorter wrote about the weave in The New York Times.

He is a professor at Columbia University and wrote about the weave in The New York Times.

He acknowledges that everyday, casual speech often meanders and overlaps topics — it’s not always strictly linear or tightly structured.

He doesn’t accept that Trump’s weave should be dismissed as dementia or a breakdown in cognition. Instead, McWhorter sees it as a rhetorical style — one in which the speaker lives “in his own head” and expects the audience to follow his train of thought without much scaffolding.

The key idea is that Trump doesn’t always make the connections explicit between “point A” and “point B.” For McWhorter, that means the audience must work harder to parse or infer the logic. waer.org+2Diane Ravitch's blog+2

McWhorter calls this style “verbal narcissism,” not because he thinks it’s a flattering trait, but because the speaker is more internally oriented (expressing what’s in his own mind) than externally oriented (making sure listeners are following along).

He does, however, criticize it: in McWhorter’s view, this style is improper for public addresses on serious matters because it fails to adapt to the audience. It demands too much effort from listeners and suggests a lack of sensitivity to how others process speech.

SARTORIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

It's easy to uncover the root of sartorial. Just strip off the suffix -ial and you discover the Latin noun sartor, meaning "tailor" (literally, "one who patches or mends"). 

sartorial statement        

gen.    визитная карточка (Это самая престижная в мире марка часов и, следовательно, лучшая визитная карточка делового человека. / This is the world's most prestigious watch brand and, hence, the best sartorial statement a businessman can make. tfennell)

 sartorial triumph         

gen.    верх портновского мастерства; хорошо сшитый костюм

sartorially [sɑː'tɔːrɪǝlɪ] adj.

gen.    в плане одежды (suburbian); в плане костюмов (suburbian); в плане гардероба (suburbian)

 The term "sartorial" originates from the Latin word "sartor," meaning tailor. It is derived from the Latin verb "sarcire," which means to patch or mend. The word entered the English language in the early 19th century, particularly in the 1820s, and has since been used to describe matters related to tailoring, clothing, or personal style, especially in the context of fashion and attire.

sartorialism

As for synonyms, while the term "sartorial" itself does not have direct synonyms, it can be associated with terms like "tailor," "tailoring," and "fashion." These terms reflect the essence of sartorialism, which emphasizes attention to detail and personal expression in clothing.

SARTORIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

It's easy to uncover the root of sartorial. Just strip off the suffix -ial and you discover the Latin noun sartor, meaning "tailor" (literally, "one who patches or mends"). 

sartorial statement        

gen.    визитная карточка (Это самая престижная в мире марка часов и, следовательно, лучшая визитная карточка делового человека. / This is the world's most prestigious watch brand and, hence, the best sartorial statement a businessman can make. tfennell)

 sartorial triumph         

gen.    верх портновского мастерства; хорошо сшитый костюм

sartorially [sɑː'tɔːrɪǝlɪ] adj.

gen.    в плане одежды (suburbian); в плане костюмов (suburbian); в плане гардероба (suburbian)

 The term "sartorial" originates from the Latin word "sartor," meaning tailor. It is derived from the Latin verb "sarcire," which means to patch or mend. The word entered the English language in the early 19th century, particularly in the 1820s, and has since been used to describe matters related to tailoring, clothing, or personal style, especially in the context of fashion and attire.

sartorialism

As for synonyms, while the term "sartorial" itself does not have direct synonyms, it can be associated with terms like "tailor," "tailoring," and "fashion." These terms reflect the essence of sartorialism, which emphasizes attention to detail and personal expression in clothing.

PURL  - Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List

"In the coming weeks, we will deliver additional batches of Patriot systems to Ukraine, and we will also continue training Ukrainian servicemen. 21 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained in Germany," Pistorius said.

"Germany is now Ukraine's biggest supporter, after the US stopped supplying. Next year we will allocate 9 billion euros.

This year we managed to raise a little bit – 900 million euros, to be able to finance the first PURL package,” he added.

The Minister stressed that the key task now is to strengthen the Ukrainian air defense system.

Let us recall that PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) is a new mechanism for supplying NATO weapons under the guise of “local production”.

Ukraine is waging war not only on the battlefield, but also in the linguistic sphere.

The correspondent of PolitNavigator reports that the Ukrainian historian Vasyl Balushok writes about this in the Kiev publication Zerkalo Nedeli, the reason for whose article was the dismissal of the language ombudsman Taras Kremen, who is notorious for his Russophobia and has received the nickname Sprechenführer among the people.

According to him, in this regard "Ukrainians were not very different from the aforementioned Chukchi, Koryaks, Nivkhs and other small peoples of Siberia" and “rapidly lost the Ukrainian language, national culture, became Russified and forgot their own history.”

"At the same time, one should not think that information dependence for a community is still an abstraction far removed from real life. Whenever countries with different strengths of information networks are neighbors, the stronger of them, like a vacuum cleaner, draws the weaker community into its orbit“And this is greatly facilitated by the unified language of the designated networks,” the historian admits.

He believes that the position of language ombudsman is extremely important in this situation.

"And only now, after 30 years of new independence, Ukraine is with great difficulty, making enormous efforts, breaking away from the Russian information communications network, which still partially entangles it in its sticky web. That is why Ukraine cares who the new language ombudsman will be, whether he has the necessary knowledge, skills and experience. After all, the war that Ukraine is currently waging also affects the linguistic sphere“,” Balushok sums up.

Supplies of weapons PROLONG WAR~

US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.

According to American broadcaster NBC, the weapons being delayed could include Patriot interceptors, Howitzer munitions, missiles and grenade launchers.

The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.

The Kremlin, for its part, welcomed news of the reduction in weapons shipments, saying reducing the flow of weapons to Kyiv will help end the conflict faster.

"The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Fedir Venislavskyi, an MP for Ukraine's ruling party, said the decision was "painful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine... it's a very unpleasant situation".