RE: Learn about the special (13th) letter of the Ukrainian alphabet with Sonia : Letter "Ї"
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I also knew the Russians had made multiple attempts to eradicate the Ukrainian language (the 1840's and the 1920's are the two times that leap to mind, but you could probably list others)
More than hundred times!
Chronology of Ukrainian language suppression
but I didn't know they'd gotten so petty as to try and ban individual letters.
It was letter "ґ". I was in out alphabet and school books when I started go to school and then just disappeared silently. In words they replaced it with the "г" but it is a different sound, something similar to "g" and "h" in English and as if they'd say that "Geek" is not "Heek" or such. Crazy. But no one argued, because for such things you would immediately be called a bourgeois nationalist, fired from work, deprived of property, or maybe worse.
This is the second time when I hear about this interesting Spanish letter, I definitely must google it :)
Basically the Spanish letter is pronounced as an English "n" with the consonant "y" after it. For example, "niña" (little girl) is pronounced "ниня" rather than "нина" (excuse me for putting it in Russian but my grasp on Ukrainian is still tenuous at best).
On another note, does every city in Ukraine have a park named for Taras Shevchenko? I remember meeting my fiancee every Friday in Shevchenko Park in Kharkiv, so it took me a minute to realize you were speaking of Kyiv.
I guess so. 😁 He is our hero.