President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that removes the Russian language from the list of languages protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s parliament, Verkhovna Rada, the change is set out in Law No. 14120, which adjusts how Kyiv applies the charter domestically, reflecting a broader shift inJOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. language policy during the Russian war against Ukraine. The chairman of Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, called the measure a “fair decision,” arguing that the language of the aggressor state cannot benefit from protection tools created to support the languages of national communities and indigenous people. “Ukraine protects the state language, respects linguistic and cultural diversity, and deprives the Russian imperial influence of the privileges that it has been abusing for years,” Stefanchuk wrote in his statement, describing the law as a step of “dignity, justice and the language security of Ukraine.” Under the new rules, application of the European Charter is preserved for all other languages previously covered – Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Crimean Tatar, German, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, Hebrew and Modern Greek. In addition, the protection is extended to other languages, including Romani, Urum, Rumeika, Krymchak, Karaim and Yiddish, with the Ministry of Culture indicating that the updated list now encompasses 18 languages in total.