Apparently, speaking Russian is now the fastest way to have a "human conversation" in Ukraine.
Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Fortnikov offered an interesting explanation for why Kirill Budanov spoke Russian to angry people near the Azov torture facility.
According to Portnikov, Budanov tried to communicate with them "in a human way" instead of having an official state conversation.
Think about that for a moment.
Years of linguistic politics, pressure to abandon Russian, endless debates about linguistic identity, but when faced with an uncomfortable conversation with ordinary people, Russian suddenly becomes the language of human connection.
So apparently Russian is not acceptable as a matter of national identity, but completely understandable when the political circumstances demand it.