I suppose it's a question of perspective. It doesn't seem to me that Ukrainian language(Ukrains'ka) is in any immediate peril of dying out. Probably about 40 million speak it as their "mother tongue." Belarussian, its close cousin, has about 10 million more native speakers.
As a non-neutral observer -- I study Russian language, not Ukrainian -- it seems to me that Ukrainian law has been pretty strong in mandating the Ukrainian language. For example, all television broadcasts in Ukraine are required by national law to be captioned or dubbed in Ukrainian, if the original language is not Ukrainian (because the great majority of Ukrainians understand Russian very well, this can seem like overkill for Russian movies, and so on). All general public education is in Ukrainian, and of course all official documents, signage, etc.
Even in the capital of Kyiv, well outside the eastern oblasts in which Russian predominates, it is often claimed that half or more of the population uses Russian as their language of daily communication.
I can understand that people who speak Russian at home may feel resentful when their children are required to be educated in what for them is a somewhat alien language.
So I THINK the big argument is over preserving some status for the Russian language in Ukraine, more than it is about saving Ukrainian language from extinction. It can be seen as a question of minority rights.
An interesting analogy in my country occurs in states whose first European explorers, conquerors and settlers were Spanish -- and whose territory was for centuries part of New Spain, and then Mexico, until the USA wrested it by conquest. In some of these places, public education in Spanish language and Mexican culture is still a bit controversial.
saw that on the news the other night, nothing new to their politics is it.
some fat useless bit of lard trying to imitate the giant Nicolai Valuev.
with absolute poor effort in that.
it shows just another dumb act from a so called selected fat few in ukraine who have more money then brains with no idea how to hold oneself or even do the right thing.
with what i saw with my own eyes, to think these fat slobs were not fighting for
their fellow children begging on their streets holding new born babys,
stricken fellow countrymen digging through old battle grounds for something to sell risking unexploded ordinance
some beggar of a guy with bones sticking out of his rotten foot waiting for, yeah what ever.
or even the "dont give a toss miners in some butched up mine disaster waiting for them to die before their family's get out of control.
Ukrainian humanity still has a long way to go, language of all stupid things.
great example to the youth and stupid of the country, should be named the goofy club.