A petition demanding a complete ban on Russian-language website versions in Ukraine has surpassed 25,000 votes, urging legal amendments to protect the state language and information security.
A petition on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website proposing to ban Russian-language versions of websites has reached 25,000 votes, the threshold required for consideration. As of December 10, the petition has 25,204 votes, with six days left until the end of the signature collection period. This was reported by Radio Svoboda.
The author of the petition, Oleksandr Leonenko, argues that all citizens of Ukraine are legally required to know the state language.
“For whom are Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine intended? If for Russians, then why are we creating websites for our enemy who came to kill us with war? If for citizens of other countries, the international language is English, not Russian,” he explains.
According to the petition’s author, Russian-language pages on Ukrainian websites are a “colonial relic” and a threat to Ukraine’s information security, as their presence helps preserve and spread Russian informational influence.
He therefore calls on the Cabinet of Ministers to draft and submit to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a bill that would provide for a complete ban on Russian-language versions of websites in Ukraine.
In particular, it is proposed to amend the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” to prohibit the existence of website pages in Russian, as well as to introduce liability for violations.
The government is required to begin reviewing the petition within three days. Petitions must be considered within no more than ten working days from the date of publication of information about the start of their review.
In October, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language reported that in the first three quarters of 2025, it had registered 2,227 citizen complaints regarding violations of the law “On the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language.” This is 27% more than in the same period last year (1,633 complaints).
