Ukrainians filed 646 complaints about violations of the language law since the beginning of 2025 - ombudsman
Kyiv • UNN
In the first quarter of 2025, 646 complaints were received regarding violations of language legislation, most of them from the service sector. Most complaints came from Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
During the first quarter of this year, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Taras Kremin, received 646 complaints from citizens regarding violations of language legislation. Most often, such cases concern the service sector, writes UNN with reference to the language ombudsman's Facebook page.
Details
In the first quarter of 2025, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Taras Kremin, received 646 appeals from citizens regarding violations of the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language."
According to the ombudsman's office, most complaints came from Kyiv (261 appeals), Odesa (84), Kharkiv (71), Dnipropetrovsk (69), Kyiv and Donetsk (22 each) regions. At the same time, they are most often directed at the service sector.
The service sector continues to be one of the most sensitive. Thus, since the beginning of 2025, the Commissioner has received 307 complaints regarding violations of the language law in this area. In particular, 175 appeals concerned Internet representations (no Ukrainian-language version of websites or a non-state language version is loaded by default if a Ukrainian-language version is available); 104 - regarding the provision of services and 28 - regarding information about goods and services.
The problem of compliance with the requirements of language legislation in the field of public information and outdoor advertising also remains.
During January-March 2025, 128 appeals were received, 67 of which were from Kyiv. The issue of compliance with the Law in the field of education, as defined by Article 21, requires increased attention.
It is noted that during the first quarter, the Commissioner received 54 appeals regarding violations of legislation by pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical workers of preschool, out-of-school, general secondary, and higher education institutions. There are also complaints regarding adult education.
Most appeals concerned universities (17).
In addition, there is a large number of complaints regarding violations in the spheres of culture (32), media (30), government bodies (29), and healthcare (27).
Kremin noted that problems with compliance with language legislation exist throughout Ukraine, but most of them are in the capital and cities with a million-plus population - Odesa, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.
The capital is a stable leader in the number of complaints. This indicates the need for the city authorities to strengthen control over the implementation of the language law. Back in April 2023, the Kyiv City Council approved the Concept for the Affirmation of the Ukrainian Language in all Spheres of Public Life of the Capital for 2023-2025, but things did not go further. The more effective initiatives that strengthen the mechanisms for affirming the state language, the stronger the Law. I call on local authorities to be offensive in protecting the language rights of citizens of Ukraine.
Kremin added that as a result of considering citizens' appeals, the Commissioner continues to take response measures, including exercising state control and imposing sanctions provided for by the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.
Addition
In December 2024, an increase in the share of Ukrainian-language content was recorded. Compared to 2023, the number of TV channels broadcasting exclusively Ukrainian-language products more than doubled - from 19% to 44.4%.