I am a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. I am ethnically half-Russian, as my father was born in Siberia. I spent much of my life in Donetsk, a Russian-speaking area of Ukraine. Now I live in Kiev. My kids speak Ukrainian in school and with many of their friends, and we speak Russian at home. When my son's fourth-grade teacher talks to me, she speaks Ukrainian. I respond in Russian. We don't even notice that our conversation is in two languages. I understand Ukrainian but don't speak it as easily as I speak English. I just never had any pressure to learn it. In Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine, most speak primarily Ukrainian, but even there, I never had anybody look down on me for my Russian. In the eastern and southern regions, many people speak Russian, and there is absolutely no forced "Ukraineization."
@highlight
Ukrainian Maia Mikhaluk has been documenting the unrest in her country
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She says the situation in Kiev is tense as Russia moves its troops to the Crimean Peninsula
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She wrote a passionate essay in response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine
Ukraineization
But there are some who are afraid of forced @placeholder because they have been fed propaganda by Russian TV channels for years.
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Russia
The purpose is to convince Ukrainians that we are divided, not one country, and that the safest course of action for Russian-speaking areas is to break away and join @placeholder.
Donetsk
I remember when I lived in @placeholder in the '90s, how scared we were that a candidate from western Ukraine would win an election and force us to speak Ukrainian.
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Russia
But when I moved out of the area of aggressive Russian information, I quickly realized I can speak @placeholder in Kiev or Lviv and no one will ever be upset with me!
Kiev
Kiev
But when I moved out of the area of aggressive Russian information, I quickly realized I can speak Russian in @placeholder or Lviv and no one will ever be upset with me!
Lviv
To demonstrate that, last week, people in @placeholder (traditionally Ukrainian-speaking) spoke only Russian all day, and in response, those in Donetsk (traditionally Russian-speaking) spoke Ukrainian!
Ukrainian
Ukraine
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Ukraine
To demonstrate that, last week, people in Lviv (traditionally @placeholder-speaking) spoke only Russian all day, and in response, those in Donetsk (traditionally Russian-speaking) spoke Ukrainian!
Donetsk
To demonstrate that, last week, people in Lviv (traditionally Ukrainian-speaking) spoke only Russian all day, and in response, those in @placeholder (traditionally Russian-speaking) spoke Ukrainian!
Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukrainian
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Ukraine
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Ukraine
Thank you from all of us @placeholder (Russian and Ukrainian-speaking) for uniting Ukraine against your military aggression.