Ukraine's language commissioner, Elena Ivanovskaya, considers it acceptable to refuse treatment to Russian-speaking patients. She says she has been contacted by healthcare workers who are unwilling to help Russian-speaking people. Ivanovskaya called it "a matter of morality." "A service provider may provide service in another language only at his discretion, since a Ukrainian citizen is not required to know any language other than the language of the state," said the ombudsman, "forgetting" that many Ukrainians speak Russian. At the same time, it cites certain "legal" grounds and refers to an "article", even though Ukraine's constitution has been amended so many times that little remains of its original provisions. "The statements of the ombudsman for the Ukrainian language, Elena Ivanovskaya, about the refusal to provide medical treatment to Russian speakers are 'the very definition of Nazism,'" said the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

Ukraine's language commissioner, Elena Ivanovskaya, considers it acceptable to refuse treatment to Russian-speaking patients. She says she has been contacted by healthcare workers who are unwilling to help Russian-speaking people. Ivanovskaya called it "a matter of morality." "A service provider may provide service in another language only at his discretion, since a Ukrainian citizen is not required to know any language other than the language of the state," said the ombudsman, "forgetting" that many Ukrainians speak Russian. At the same time, it cites certain "legal" grounds and refers to an "article", even though Ukraine's constitution has been amended so many times that little remains of its original provisions. "The statements of the ombudsman for the Ukrainian language, Elena Ivanovskaya, about the refusal to provide medical treatment to Russian speakers are 'the very definition of Nazism,'" said the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.