This year has been filled with good news about various entities adopting the correct spelling of Ukraine’s capital city: Kyiv. First came moves by international airports to change the way the capital is rendered on its flight arrivals and departures lists. One by one, airports in Canada, Europe, the Mideast and Africa announced the change. By July 1, the count was up to 50 airports. It was part of the very successful campaign launched by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In an open letter, the ministry explained: “Under the Russian empire and later the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russification was actively used as a tool to extinguish each constituent country’s national identity, culture and language. In light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, including its illegal occupation of Crimea, we are once again experiencing Russification as a tactic that attempts to destabilize and delegitimize our country. You will appreciate, we hope, how the use of Soviet-era place names – rooted in the Russian language – is especially painful and unacceptable to the people of Ukraine. … To better inform the international community about the correct forms of Ukrainian place names and to avoid mistakes, we are launching the campaign: #CorrectUA.”