Usage of other languages, along with Ukrainian, was allowed in local institutions located in places of residence of the majority of citizens of the corresponding ethnicities.

[21] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the law, with some minor amendments, remained in force in the independent Ukrainian state.

[21] Ever since, there have been discussions on the potential adoption as Russian as a co-official language alongside Ukrainian, particularly raising debates during presidential and parliamentary election campaigns.

The State ensures the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of Ukraine.

[24] Opponents feared that the adoption of Russian as a minority language could have spread rapidly, challenging Ukrainian and causing splits between eastern and western Ukraine.

[35] Kolesnichenko, one of the authors of the law, claimed that the Opinion was "generally supportive",[36] but the opponents noted that it contained strong criticism about the failure to protect the role of Ukrainian as the State language.

[37][38] Prior to 24 May 2012, there were rumors that a revision of the legislation on languages would take place in parliament (the Verkhovna Rada) and that the Secretary of National Security and Defense would attend the session.

After the break, Member of Parliament Vyacheslav Kyrylenko read a statement of the united opposition not to conduct any hearings regarding language issues.

[44][45] The Party of Regions released a statement to the press where it accused the opposition of impeding the enactment of a bill that protects some constitutional rights of millions of citizens of Ukraine.

[52] On February 23, 2014, the second day after the flight of Viktor Yanukovich, while in a parliamentary session, a deputy from the Batkivshchyna party, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, moved to include in the agenda a bill to repeal the 2012 law "On the principles of the state language policy".

However, the move to repeal the 2012 law "On the principles of the state language policy" provoked negative reactions in Crimea and in some regions of Southern and Eastern Ukraine.

[61] According to Uilleam Blacker writing for openDemocracy, the repeal bill contained no specific threat to the Russian language.

[69] On 10 July 2014, 57 parliamentary deputies appealed the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to review the 2012 law "On the principles of the state language policy".

[70] The names of cities, villages, streets and squares that referred to communist slogans and leaders fell under the ban and had to be changed.

[71] According to Volodymyr Viatrovych, who had inspired the law, in October 2016 Ukraine's toponymy had undergone a complete process of decommunization, including in the Donbas region.

[72] In June 2016, a new law was enacted requiring Ukraine's radio stations to play a quota of Ukrainian-language songs each day.

"[75] In May 2017, Verkhovna Rada enacted an analogous law prescribing a 75% Ukrainian-language quotas in all television channels operating in Ukraine.

[76][78] The Romanian parliament passed a motion condemning the law and warned that Ukraine could not proceed towards EU integration without respecting the language rights of national minorities.

[76] The Russian Duma and Federation Council also adopted a resolution lamenting the violation of the language rights of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine.

[76] The Hungary–Ukraine relations rapidly deteriorated over the issue of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, as the education law was accused of being nationalistic and needlessly provocative.

[88] According to the 2020 law until the fifth year of education all lessons can be completely taught in the minority language without mandatory teaching of subjects in Ukrainian.

[92] In September 2018, Lviv Oblast Council introduced a ban on the public use of the Russian-language cultural products (movies, books, songs, etc.)

[95] The law "On Protecting the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language" made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine.

During this time, the Verkhovna Rada's committee on culture and spirituality worked out over 2,000 amendments to the document that were proposed by people's deputies.

[102][103] On the same day pro-Russian members of the Ukrainian Parliament blocked the chairman, Andriy Parubiy, from signing it by introducing two draft resolutions to repeal the law.

[113] The law regulates the Ukrainian language in the media, education, and business aiming to strengthen its role in a country where much of the public still speaks Russian.

[12] The law requires every citizen to be proficient in Ukrainian and prevents access to "state positions" (members of parliament, civil servants, etc.)

[12][16] On 26 April 2019, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the law was "unacceptable" and "part of Poroshenko's anti-Hungarian policy".

[120] In December 2019, the Venice Commission said that several provisions of the law failed to strike a fair balance between promoting the Ukrainian language and safeguarding minorities' linguistic rights.

[121] In May 2019, the Kyiv District Administrative Court dismissed an NGO's application to prohibit Verkhovna Rada President Andriy Parubiy from signing and publishing the law.