SLAVA UKRAINI
The Ukrainian and Russian languages are Slavic but have distinct differences in phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, and historical influences. While they share some similarities due to their common East Slavic roots, Ukrainian is closer to Belarusian and Polish than Russian.
Both languages use the Cyrillic alphabet, but Ukrainian has more unique letters:
Ukrainian has ґ (Ґ ґ), є (Є є), ї (Ї ї), і (І і)—these letters do not exist in Russian.
Russian has ы (Ы ы) and ё (Ё ё), which do not exist in Ukrainian.
Pronunciation Differences
Ukrainian "Г" (H sound) vs. Russian "Г" (G sound)
Ukrainian г sounds like the English "h" (hа́рбуз – "pumpkin").
Russian г sounds like the English "g" (гарбуз – "pumpkin").
Ukrainian tends to soften consonants more than Russian.
Vowel pronunciation is different (e.g., Ukrainian "и" sounds closer to Polish "y", whereas Russian "и" is softer).
Although Ukrainian and Russian share many words, about 38% of Ukrainian vocabulary is different from Russian. Ukrainian is more influenced by Polish, Slovak, and Czech, while Russian is more influenced by Old Church Slavonic and French.
Ukrainian often uses "и" instead of "е" in words that Russian retains with "е" (e.g., "лес" (forest) in Russian → "ліс" in Ukrainian).
Many common verbs differ (e.g., "to speak" in Ukrainian is "говорити", while in Russian, it is "говорить").
Ukrainian retains the vocative case (used to address someone directly), while Russian has mostly lost it.
Ukrainian is more "melodic" than Russian due to its softer sounds and use of diphthongs.
Russian sounds flatter and has more guttural consonants.
Ukrainian developed with strong Western European influences (Polish, Lithuanian, Austro-Hungarian).
Russian was shaped more by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine influences.
During the Soviet era, Ukrainian was suppressed in favor of Russian, leading to Russification policies.
