Speak Russian or die?

I often hear Tankies and others repeat Russian propaganda about Russian being banned in Ukraine after Maidan and Russian speakers being persecuted as a pretext for the invasion. It is utter nonsense to anyone familiar with the country. Much of the media was in Russian and many Ukrainians spoke Russian. There was no persecution.

To me it was analogous to how American conservatives pretend like legalizing gay marriage is "oppressive". What actually was happening was Ukrainian language was being supported. A language that was suppressed by the Soviets. Not a ban on Russian. Not too different from how Ireland has supported Gaeilge.