Growing up in the bilingual city of Kyiv in the 1990s, I studied the Ukrainian language like a museum object—intensely, but at a distance, never quite feeling all of its textures or bringing it home.

In Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, Ukrainian language lessons take place in one of the few intact rooms in the city’s public library, damaged earlier this year when the Russians pummeled the city with ...

In occupied parts of Ukraine, Russian forces have imposed a new Moscow-backed school curriculum, eliminating lessons in Ukrainian language and culture. But teachers who are dedicated to preserving ...