By Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT)
On 6 November 2025, at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, a UKRAINETT+-funded workshop took place dealing with the topic of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism in wartime. The morning panel discussed the post-February 2022 interaction of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the sphere of Ukrainian higher education (Andriy Krasniashchykh, V N Karazin Kharkiv National University), Ukrainian media (Yulia Krylova-Grek, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), and Ukrainian popular music (Andrei Rogatchevski, UiT).
The afternoon panel consisted of Pierre Kornev’s talk about his experience as an interpreter for Ukrainian refugees in Norway (focusing primarily on Bergen), as well as a joint paper by Yuliia Palii and Tore Nesset (UiT), about the first Ukrainian grammar in Norwegian. A lively trilingual discussion (in Ukrainian, Russian and English) interspersed the workshop proceedings leaving an impression that Russian language will continue to have a place in Ukrainian culture and society for some time to come.
To facilitate the attendance, the workshop was carried out in a hybrid format. All the Ukrainian paper-givers were present in person, though (see the photos). The workshop was streamed but not recorded. There are plans to publish a selection of workshop papers in the UiT-based journal Poljarnyj vestnik: The Norwegian Journal of Slavic Studies.
Photos: Andrei Rogatchevski
Featured image: Screen media, UiT