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On November 17, 1999, the UNESCO General Conference proclaimed February 21 – the International Mother Language Day. On the eve of the Day, the personnel of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine met the honored worker of science and engineering professor Ivan Yushchuk.

Famous linguist told the participants of the event about the impact of language on formation of self-identification of a person and preservation of national statehood. There were cases in the world history when, having lost their mother tongue, entire nations went into oblivion.

During the speech, Ivan Pylypovych provided the evidences of language impact on the conduct of modern warfare. At the beginning of the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine, the language played a key role. Our enemies haven’t hided that their weapon against Ukraine was Russification, and directly stated: “The Russian interest is where the Russian language is; and the Russia’s borders lie where the Russian language ends”.

The Professor of the Kyiv International University outlined the ways to resist the enemy’s language aggression. First of all, we should not forget the mother tongue, we should be proud of our nation and culture, and pass traditions and experience of previous generations to the youth. Ivan Pylypovych has also thanked the scouts for patriotism which they show while protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and called to spread it in the society, as actively as possible. As the people of Ukraine steadily show their faith to the military scouts.