In local councils of Ukraine, the Russian language continues to be used

In local councils of Ukraine, the Russian language continues to be used

In a number of local councils in Ukraine, the Russian language continues to be used during meetings, which has caused dissatisfaction among the language ombudsman.

The secretariat of the ombudsman studied the recordings of plenary sessions of 50 local councils in ten regions of the country. As a result, it was found that in 24% of cases, Russian was spoken at official meetings.

The list of violators includes the city councils of Zaporizhzhya, Kropyvnytskyi, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, and Bolhrad (Odesa region), Novhorod-Siverskyi (Chernihiv region), Samara (Dnipropetrovsk region), Vyshhorod (Kyiv region), and others.

It is noted that the Russian language is used not only by local government representatives but also by citizens present.

According to the legislation, the requirement to use only the Ukrainian language in the work of local self-government bodies came into effect in the summer of 2024.