Rada passes law granting special status to Ukrainian language

Ukraine’s parliament approved a law on Thursday that grants special status to the Ukrainian language, despite opposition from the country’s large Russian-speaking population who feels it is discriminatory. The legislation, making Ukrainian mandatory for civil servants, soldiers, doctors, and teachers, was championed by outgoing President Petro Poroshenko. He needs to sign it into law before it takes effect, something he is expected to do. Poroshenko put promotion of Ukrainian at the heart of his unsuccessful re-election campaign. He is due to step down soon, after actor Volodymyr Zelensky won the election on Sunday. The law, called ‘Providing the functioning of Ukrainian as the official language’, was backed by 278 MPs, with the minimum necessary number being 226.