Lives in UkraineUpvoted by
, lives in Ukraine (1976-present) and
, lives in Russia (1900-present)Author has 346 answers and 1.4M answer viewsUpdated 1y
Do Russian speaking people of Ukraine feel Russian or Ukrainian?
My mother tongue is Russian (meaning I was taught to speak Russian when I was small). I first learnt Ukrainian in school since most of my family are speaking Russian (except for one pair of great grand parents). The reason for that differs depending on the relatives - my grandfather on mother’s side was Russified as a child (his parents spoke Ukrainian, but it was not considered fashionable). My grandmother on the mother’s side comes from immigrants family from Russia who moved here before she was born. I’m not clear on the other pair of grandparents, but they were Russian-speaking as well.
Naturally I can speak Ukrainian, but I’m originally form the central Ukraine, where Surzhyk was the main common language when I was growing up.
I consider myself 100% Ukrainian (and so does my brother who shares the same family anamnesis).
As for other people - things can be different. It depends on the place they live in (the closer to the east, the more of them feel Russian). It depends on the age as it was already mentioned (the younger - the more Ukrainian they are). It also depends greatly on the education/income.
I now live in eastern Ukraine, but most people around me consider themselves Ukrainians and speak Russian. I’d say it is extremely uncommon to find someone else at my workplace. The reason for that - I work in IT industry, with high level of education and high income. It is common for educated, well off people, people who can use their skills and strength to achieve more, independent and confident people to feel they are Ukrainians. Of course there are exceptions, but they are few. It is as common for pensioners, budget workers, other dependent groups of people who do not feel like they can change anything using their own skills and strength to feel like they want to live in Russia. The reason for that is easy enough to guess - they think that Russian pensions and wages are better, they want order and strong hand of the authorities to provide for them (there was never a ‘strong hand’ to rule independent Ukraine, unlike Russia). And sometimes they want to prevent other people from getting more based on their skills, because the idea of uravnilovka (a soviet kind of egalitarianism) is still alive in the heads of the older generation.
Update from 6.03.2022
Everything written above is no longer true. There are almost no people in Ukraine now who consider themselves to be Russian.
I lived through bombings of Kharkiv, saw it from my high rise windows, sat without water and electricity. All Kharkiv residents did. Those who were pro Russian or just Russian but considered Kharkiv their city are in shock, they did not expect this. They despise Russia now immensely for destroying their city, bombing residential areas and city center. Even the prevously most pro Russian residents say that Kharkiv would never ever be Russian, there is no way to get there any more, that bridge is burnt.