Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the German government has changed the spelling of the Ukrainian capital in its official communications from “Kiew” to the Ukrainian “Kyjiw”.
The move followed a long campaign by the Ukrainian government in 2018 to lobby for the use of a transliteration closer to the Ukrainian spelling “Київ” than the Russian “Киев” as a matter of liberation from former Russian rulers.
Shortly thereafter, the US government adopted the Ukrainian version of English (“Kyiv” rather than “Kiev”), and major English-language media outlets such as the BBC and the New York Times also changed their spelling.
Consequently, the German ambassador to Ukraine earlier this year questioned the continued use of the Russian spelling in Germany. The German Foreign Ministry has now responded by introducing the relevant German change into its official communications, announcing on Saturday that it will change from “Kiew” to “Kyjiw”. She said at a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in Odesa on the second anniversary of the Ukrainian conflict:
“We have implemented what was long overdue: the spelling of your capital in the Ukrainian language.”
The Ukrainian foreign minister expressed his gratitude for the linguistic change. Kuleba noted:
“We have fought for many years to ensure that Ukraine is not viewed through the Russian language. I thank everyone fighting for historical justice – even in small details.”
Kuleba thanked Baerbock for the new spelling policy, but he criticised Western support in more substantive areas such as military aid and international institutions.
