“Among Ukrainian citizens, as well as among those who immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine, there are many ethnic Russians and even more Russian speakers, given that in Soviet times many ethnic Ukrainians were more proficient in Russian than Ukrainian,” Gans-Morse said. “So, with all of this in mind, until quite recently it would have seemed completely natural, as well as politically insignificant, for many Ukrainian restaurant owners in America to use a Russian name for a restaurant and to characterize their establishment as ‘Russian,’ especially given that most Americans prior to Russia’s invasion couldn’t even find Ukraine on a map.”
