Ukrainian language in Odesa has become more spoken: Azov fighter about changes in three years

In Odesa, the situation with the Ukrainian language has become much better, although the struggle on the part of the conditional Russophile contingent is still ongoing.

This opinion was expressed by Pavlo Derevyanko, a writer and soldier of the Azov regiment. In an interview with Intent, he shared his impressions of the changes that have been taking place in Odesa over the three years of full-scale war, noting that the city is gradually transforming, both in the external and deep cultural sense.

"I know that over these three years of full-scale war, Odesa has been changing. All the perturbations are happening here all the time. In terms of the Ukrainian language, the situation has become much better and has become much larger. At the same time, the conditional Russophile contingent continues to fight against this," says the fighter, who remembers the city well before February 24, 2022.

According to him, due to the massive Russian shelling, Odesa lost part of its population - some of the citizens left for safer regions. But even so, the city's atmosphere is changing, and these changes are in favor of national awareness.

"I know that, well, I don't know, this is my personal impression, because I was here before the full-scale. Now I really feel that there are fewer people because of these massive shellings. It's clear that not everyone wants to live in these conditions, so they leave for other cities that they consider safer. That's why you can see that there are fewer people. This is my personal impression from walking the streets all evening," the soldier said.

He is confident that Odesa is on the path to deeper national self-awareness, just like Kharkiv. Both cities, as the soldier reminds, have strong local patriotism, but also a hidden, often silenced Ukrainian historical basis.

"It seems to me that, in principle, Odesa, like Kharkiv, is on its own transformational path to greater Ukrainianness. Because both Kharkiv and Odesa are known for their local patriotism and the city's flag. We have our own atmosphere here, there is a big land, a big Ukraine, we have Odesa here. And that's it, we have always had our own way here. Although in fact Odesa and all the lands around it are a powerful Cossack heritage built on Cossack graves. And there is really something to be proud of here, and here again we return to the conversation about history. Some of it we know, and it was specially promoted in the days of imperial Russia, and some of it was deliberately silenced and erased to deprive Ukraine of any hints of Rus," the Azov fighter said.

In his opinion, the war has actualized historical memory and revealed new meanings that were previously hidden under the pressure of imperial propaganda.

Ірина Глухова