Lesya Ukrainka was one of Ukrainian literature's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. She was also an active political, civil, and feminist activist.
Lesya Ukrainka
Lesya Ukrainka and Olha Kobylianska, 1901
A group of Ukrainian writers gathered in Poltava to inaugurate a monument to Ivan Kotliarevsky. From left: Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Vasyl Stefanyk, Olena Pchilka, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Starytsky, Hnat Khotkevych, Volodymyr Samijlenko
1956 USSR stamp
The Ukrainian language is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the native language of a majority of Ukrainians.
"Lenten Triodion" of Kiev Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, 1646
Miniature of St Luke from the Peresopnytsia Gospels (1561).
While Russian was a de facto official language of the Soviet Union in all but formal name, all national languages were proclaimed equal. The name and denomination of Soviet banknotes were listed in the languages of all fifteen Soviet republics. On this 1961 1 Rbl note, the Ukrainian for "one rouble", один карбованець (odyn karbovanets`), directly follows the Russian один рубль (odin rubl`).
Ukrainian language traffic sign for the Ivan Franko Museum in Kryvorivnia.
