Now many Russian speakers in Ukraine — who live primarily in the country’s east and in large cities — are demonstratively turning to Ukrainian as a badge of self-identification. A concise tutorial on how to switch from Russian to Ukrainian, written by a Kiev blogger, has earned thousands of shares and reposts. Patriotic Russian-speakers in Kiev and big eastern cities are pledging on social networks to speak Ukrainian to their children, hoping to make the next generation more fluent and natural speakers of their native tongue.

For the first time in decades, speaking Ukrainian is seen as fashionable rather than backward.

For the first time in decades, speaking Ukrainian is seen as fashionable rather than backward.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/26/why-ukrainians-are-speaking-more-ukrainian/