Ukraine Languages

Ukrainian is the official language, though Russian is widely spoken, particularly east of the Dnieper River which runs north-south through the middle of the country. The language of the records is Russian. Ukrainian and Russian are closely related and text in one language can be understood by a reader who knows the other language. In the area of western Ukraine, acquired by the Soviet Union after World War II, the language of the records is German, Latin, and Romanian in old Cyrillic script.