[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Itsme

Maybe this link may explain your Grandfathers hatred of Russia; interesting commentary in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK-yJD_fAtk

I'm sure that has a bit to do with it, but I got the feeling a lot of what he felt was far more personal than that.

Originally Posted by ford71V8

Without too much online searching I can see there are many Russian people unhappy with what is occurring and they are protesting in big numbers

Whilst there may be large numbers in absolute, as a percentage of the entire population, I'd think it'd still be pretty small. But, one can only hope that more Russian people feel it is the right thing to do to let their government know how they feel.

Originally Posted by Vesper Martini

Interesting

I read about 17% of Ukraine's population identify as Russians.

In 1994 a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level; however, the referendum was annulled by the Kyiv government.[25][26]


Could it get to the point one day that Melbourne for example has a referendum to recognize the Chinese language?

That's probably not a good analogy, as the history of the area and the 'ownership' of the land goes back a loooooonnnng way. And the 'ownership' has ebbed and flowed back and forth many times over that period. I'm trying to think of a more suitable analogy, but I'm struggling coming up with one.