Zelensky removes Russian from Ukraine's list of protected minority languages under European charter

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law removing Russian from the list of languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk announced.

Stefanchuk called the move an important step toward protecting Ukraine's language and fulfilling the country's European obligations, arguing that Russian had no place in a charter designed to safeguard minority and indigenous languages.

According to the Ukrainian news outlet Yevropeiska Pravda, each signatory country is responsible for designating its own list of protected languages at the time of ratification. Russian was originally included on that list.

The Verkhovna Rada introduced a bill in December 2024 and passed it roughly a year later. The legislation clarified the Ukrainian translation of the charter and dropped both Russian and Moldovan (which linguists consider a form of Romanian) from the list.