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 do n't even notice that our conversation is in two languages . I understand Ukrainian but do n'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 . '' You might be asking what all this fuss is about in Crimea , the autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong ties to Russia . Why are thousands coming to the streets with Russian flags ? It 's easy to explain . Tracking the crisis in Ukraine as it unfolds . Many people in Crimea and eastern Ukraine do n't want the protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin . But there are some who are afraid of forced Ukraineization because they have been fed propaganda by Russian TV channels for years . 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 Russia . These ideas have been cultivated since I was a child . I remember when I lived in Donetsk in the '90s , how scared we were that a candidate from western Ukraine would win an election and force us to speak Ukrainian . But when I moved out of the area of aggressive Russian information , I quickly realized I can speak Russian in Kiev or Lviv and no one will ever be upset with me ! Over our 22 years of Ukrainian independence , fears of language or ethnic persecution have never come true . But they were kept alive by Russian propaganda . We understand that Putin is trying to escalate tension and provoke civil war in Ukraine right now . He ca n't afford for a free Ukraine to succeed : His own people might get an idea that it 's possible to overthrow a tyrant and build a prosperous country . U.N. Security Council meets to discuss Ukraine crisis . Putin wo n't succeed . Ukrainians are wiser than that and wo n't kill each other over the nonexistent problem of language . To demonstrate that , last week , people in Lviv ( traditionally Ukrainian-speaking ) spoke only Russian all day , and in response , those in Donetsk ( traditionally Russian-speaking ) spoke Ukrainian ! No civil war in Ukraine , Mr. Putin ! It must be getting harder to justify the presence of military force to `` protect '' people when nobody is in danger . I just talked to my friends in Crimea . Yuri in Simferopol told me that it 's a handful of pro-Russian extremists in the streets trying to make a scene for Russian video cameras -- they are showing that these are the Russians who request protection ! Meanwhile , the rest of the city is terrified by the presence of Russian military forces and are evacuating their families to central or western Ukraine . I got a similar report from Luda in Kharkov . She said that a large group of Russians were brought across the border by buses , and they were the ones inspiring and instigating unrest that resulted in putting a Russian flag on a municipal building . The amount of propaganda Russia has poured onto Ukraine is hard to comprehend . Putting troops on Ukrainian land is going to bring the very opposite result from what Putin expected : I believe it 's uniting Ukraine . Meanwhile , Russia and Putin are getting into deeper isolation from the world as more and more countries are recalling their ambassadors from Russia and condemning the government 's actions . Good job , Mr. Putin ! Thank you from all of us Ukrainians ( Russian and Ukrainian-speaking ) for uniting Ukraine against your military aggression . Are you in Ukraine ? Have you witnessed the unrest there ? Share your stories with CNN iReport , but please stay safe .
Ukrainian journalist Mikhaluk has been documenting the unrest in her blog . She says the situation in Ukraine is tense as Russia moves its troops to the Crimean Peninsula . She wrote a passionate essay in response to Russia 's military intervention in Ukraine .