- Kyrylo Budanov, head of Zelensky's office, was filmed speaking Russian while trying to calm a riot near Kyiv.
- The incident exposes a double standard in Ukraine's policy penalizing teachers for using Russian.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova taunted Ukraine's language commissioner over Budanov's linguistic slip.
- Ukraine's language commissioner places fines on teachers for Russian but faces pressure over Budanov's public use of it.
- The confrontation also revealed an alleged unofficial detention facility where AWOL soldiers were reportedly held and beaten.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova publicly taunted Ukraine’s language commissioner Tuesday after Kyrylo Budanov, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, was filmed Monday evening speaking Russian as he tried to calm a riot outside an alleged Azov-run detention facility in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, a village near Kyiv. The confrontation erupted after reports emerged of men being held in a private home under armed guard.
The episode exposes the double standard in Ukraine’s aggressive Ukrainian-only language policy: Zelensky’s top aide slipped into Russian amid a volatile standoff—the very language Kyiv penalizes teachers for using.
Language commissioner faces awkward question about Budanov’s Russian
Zakharova took to social media to ask Olena Ivanovska, Ukraine’s Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, whether she planned to fine Budanov for his linguistic slip—not to mention the 14-year-old boy also heard speaking Russian at the scene, and the news outlets that aired the exchange.
The question cuts to the heart of a policy that has generated significant controversy. Ivanovska’s office has aggressively pursued violations, and teachers now face fines of 3,400 to 5,100 hryvnias (roughly $75 to $115) for using Russian during educational activities, with repeat offenders facing steeper penalties. Parents have been warned that even official school group chats must be conducted in Ukrainian.
Yet footage from the November 2 incident shows Budanov switching to Russian precisely when tensions escalated, despite addressing reporters in Ukrainian during calmer moments. The irony was not lost on observers.
Policy enforcement stumbles on its own evidence
In September, Ivanovska demanded explanations from Ukraine’s Security Service and military intelligence agency, both of which opened up internal investigations, after their officers were caught speaking Russian in a heated standoff that turned into a shootout.
The commissioner has framed her work as essential to undoing the legacy of Russification imposed by the Russian Empire and later the Soviets. In a recent interview with Censor.NET, she acknowledged that “in extreme circumstances, a person may automatically revert to the linguistic code formed in childhood,” but insisted that Ukrainian must still be used wherever the law requires it.
Still, the footage of Budanov raises questions about whether the rules apply equally. Critics have long claimed that Zelensky and many senior officials speak Russian behind closed doors, pointing to occasional public slips caught on camera.
Kremlin points to broader pattern of discrimination
Moscow has long argued that Kyiv’s language policies are a form of systematic discrimination against Ukraine’s ethnic Russians, and the Kremlin considers the issue to be one of the root causes of the war.
The confrontation that exposed Budanov’s language switch involved far more than just a linguistic dispute. Eyewitnesses and local reports described an unofficial detention facility where soldiers who went AWOL were allegedly locked up, beaten and held for ransom.
When a doctor was finally let in, she observed 25 to 30 people inside; four had to be brought to a hospital. The National Guard’s 1st Azov Corps later conceded that four detainees were injured, after police had insisted for hours that no one was hurt. Azov commander Denys Prokopenko accused the protesters of “sabotage”... in angry Ukrainian.
Asked by a protester why such places existed, Budanov was blunt: “There are many buildings like this.”
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, has demanded an investigation into possible unlawful detention. Meanwhile, Ivanovska faces the uncomfortable prospect of either pursuing a case against Budanov or admitting that the rules apply differently to those at the top.
A single night’s video footage has laid bare a government that polices teachers’ vocabulary while men are held in basements without doctors. And the language police seem to have one set of rules for ordinary citizens and teachers, and quite another for the president’s inner circle.
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