Although Ukrainian and Russian are Slavic languages, they differ 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.
Although Ukrainian and Russian share many words, about 38% of Ukrainian vocabulary differs from Russian. Ukrainian is more influenced by Polish, Slovak, and Czech, while Russian more influences Old Church Slavonic and French.
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).
Russia was shaped more by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine influences.
During the Soviet era, Ukrainian was suppressed in favor of Russian, leading to Russification policies.
