As if it would be this simple.
Much (if not the majority) of fighting Ukrainian army speak russian in combat, at home, and so on. They know Ukrainian - because it is, well, strongly promoted. Strongly enough to spark a civil war.
Much of it (and significant part of the whole population) has relatives in Russia outright, and vice versa. Some of the cities where the fighting is going right now don't speak Ukrainian in daily life, at all. Some(if not most) of them are actually fiercely pro-Ukrainian, in spite of being essentially discriminated against, by this metric at least.
So, tread carefully here. yes, Ukrainian identity is a fact. No, it doesn't come from 'Ukrainian language being distinct from Russian'.
More inadequate reading comprehension.
First of all, I was disputing someone who claimed that Ukrainians rightly have no distinct national identity from Russians.
He apparently believes that Ukrainians are merely Russians at heart in different regional dress.
As far as I can infer, he apparently believes that Ukrainian nationalists have been brainwashed by Western propaganda
to believe that they are different from Russians when, in reality, they are the same people as Russians.
This attitude is extremely condescending.
I never claimed that the *only* reason why Ukrainians are different from Russians is their languages.
Please don't put words into my mouth to attack as your strawman.
Many, if not most, Ukrainians can understand Russian, even if they choose not to speak it unless compelled.
So what? Austrians and Prussians both speak German, yet Austria and Prussia fought many wars against each other.
Ukrainians have a national identity that's distinct from Russians. That does not necessarily mean that Ukrainians
and Russians must be extremely different in every possible way.
