Direct Questions to Ukrainians

🇺🇦 🇫🇷 Today, there will be a screening of the Соловей співає documentary in Paris. We were really looking forward to it and grateful that the film agreed to be shown here as part of Дні української етнічної культури. We worked on the subtitles of the movie to make it accessible to a French-speaking audience (there are english ones on YT - link in comments below). The film speaks of how deeply rooted in history is the extermination of the Ukrainian nation on the example of the linguicide of the Ukrainian language. And in particular, how russification cultivated our perception of ourselves and our culture as something of inferior, provincial, and small.

We grew against the background of Russian expansion: linguistic, cultural, political. At one time, when we were still interested in foreign authors as teenagers, all available translations were only in Russian. Thus, over the years, I gradually developed a strong idea that Ukrainian is a language for everyday use, while Russian is the language of literature. Eventually, Russian, a foreign, forcibly imposed language, became a constant mediator through which I interacted and perceived images, ideas, feelings. I convinced myself that there are not even such words in the Ukrainian language to express everything so accurately and subtly. And it's not about cultural exchange or choice, - it is about the cultural expansion and dominance of one language over another, the imposition of one's way and form of thinking on the whole people.

For many, the transition from Russian to Ukrainian is a difficult or even unnecessary process. I think it is so difficult for us to make changes because we have forgotten how brutally the Ukrainian language and those who spoke it were exterminated. And now the attempt to return to our space the native language of this territory is often perceived with a grin. We have a bitter and painful memory of the murders and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from our territories in the past. But today, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, the Russians have deported about 1,200,000 Ukrainians.

However, we also have a memory of warmth and light. The memory of traditions, holidays, songs, parties and everything that unites people and makes them happy to be together in one community. All this is hidden in the words that our ancestors invented to convey what they felt, how they lived and acquired, and we have a unique key to their experience and perception of the world. This is our common space and heritage, we were just made to forget about it. And it's time to remind yourself of everything.

Link to the movie with english subtitles in the comments. Enjoy your viewing!

We're launching this project today with 3 interviews of Ukrainians who stayed in Kyiv or in the West of Ukraine. They are historians, human right defender and bar owner who transformed into volonteers to help the army and the civilians. They tell us their stories, their experience of this war, and debunk with strong arguments some of the favorite topics of the Russian propaganda.

In English : https://www.directquestionstoukrainians.com/
En Français : https://www.directquestionstoukrainians.com/fr

Nous lançons aujourd'hui ce projet avec 3 interviews d'Ukrainiens restés à Kyiv ou dans l'ouest de l'Ukraine. Ils sont historiens, défenseurs des droits de l'homme, ou propriétaire de bar devenus volontaires pour aider l'armée et les civils. Ils nous racontent leur histoire, leur expérience de cette guerre, et debunkent avec des arguments solides les principaux axes de la propagande russe.

Interviews | Direct Questions to Ukrainians Direct Questions to Ukrainians gives a balanced and detailed perception of who the Ukrainians really are by asking them in interviews all the questions that westerners would want to ask them. We also debunk a lot of russian propaganda with Ukrainian historians, human rights defenders, etc...

Roman Sh., talks to us about how he turned his bar in Kyiv into a bomb-shelter and a volonteer centre helping the Ukrainian army, the Territorial Defense and the civilians in need. He also tells us about his perception of the conflict since 2014, as he had to escape his hometown of Luhansk when the war started.

The bomb-shelter bar in Kyiv Roman Sh., originally from Luhansk, transformed his bar into a bomb-shelter and a volonteer centre.

Roman K.'s, human rights defender, and historian specialized in Sovietology, propaganda and censorship in the USSR and its transformation, debunks 3 of the most spread Putin's justifications for the war in Ukraine.

"De-Putinization of Russia will be very painful" Debunking three of Putin's narratives with Roman K.'s interviews, human rights defender, and historian specialized in Sovietology, propagand

Our first post and interview is with Yulia N, Ukrainian Historian, who explains how and why Russia re-wrote the history of her country.

Debunking the Russian narrative on Ukrainian History Ukrainian historian Yulia N. debunks the narrative of Russia and Ukraine being brother-nations.