What's it like living in the Ukraine?

[Sergiox]

Now that Yushchenko has won the much contested election, how has his victory changed the mood of the country. What are your hopes, as Ukrainians, for the future. Are all these predictions of the country split in two a simple western myth, or are there still problems? Has Yanukovich now scurried back to the shadows to await another chance, or will he now foment trouble for Viktor Yushchenko?

[nikolai]

I think that almost all people participating in this forum are not living in Ukraine at the present time.

Very few Ukrainians in Ukraine have access to the internet. And even fewer of them know enough English to participate in discussions such as this.

If you really want to find out the mood of the people in Ukraine, then you have to travel around the country there and meet the people. And of course, you would need to know both Russian and Ukrainian languages for that.

I am originally from the Russian-speaking region of Crimea in Ukraine. And I've visited there a number of times in recent years.

I know from talking with people in Crimea that many people there resent the imposition of Ukrainian language on them. Almost everybody speaks Russian in Crimea. And they don't like the fact that Russian language is not allowed in primary schools, on government forms and documents, and on commercial billboards.

I imagine that in other Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, many people feel the same kind of resentment against their government in Kiev.

This recent election was as much about ethnic divisions in Ukraine as it was about the economy and international politics.

Yanukovich has lost the election. But he and his party in parliament will probably maintain a strong opposition to the Yuschenko government.

More importantly, those ethnic divisions and animosities between Russians and Ukrainians are not going to go away any time soon. Ukrainian nationalists in Western Ukraine have blocked all attempts to make two official languages in Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian. And this will continue to ferment separtist feelings and ideas among many Russians there. Crimea already tried to separate from Ukraine in early 1990's. And I think that people there will try it again some time in the future.

Yanukovich may go away and disappear. But his supporters will find another leader. And that new leader will probably make life difficult for Yuschenko and his nationalist supporters in Western Ukraine.

[big-daddy]

I am a Ukrainian from Kyyiv, currently abroad, but who is on semi-daily telephone conversations with home. Right now it is jovial in some parts of the country, others- not so much .

However all politics is BS and basically the whole country for half of the January is drunk and partying because of the holidays.

Z Novym Rokom i Rizdvom!!

[nickcsadler]

Nickolai...My wife is from Mariupol and agrees with all that you say...all we can do now is wait and see what move Yuschenko will make first but I think he will wait until Bush tells him what to do!!!!!