KyivNotKiev is an online campaign to persuade English-language media and organizations to exclusively use Kyiv (derived from the Ukrainian-language 'Київ') instead of Kiev (derived from the Russian-language 'Киев') as the name of the Ukrainian capital.^[1][2] It was started on 2 October 2018 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and StratCom Ukraine, and it is run by the MFA's Department of Public Diplomacy.

It is part of the wider CorrectUA campaign, which intends to internationally assert a Ukrainian identity and remove linguistic relics of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union by promoting the exclusive use of Ukrainian-language transliterations for Ukrainian place names.^[3][4][5]

CorrectUA campaign

The CorrectUA campaign lobbies for changes to Ukrainian city names whose English names are derived from their Russian spellings. Examples of Russian and Ukrainian spelling differences include: Odessa and Odesa, Kharkov and Kharkiv, Lvov and Lviv, Nikolaev and Mykolaiv, and Rovno and Rivne.^[6]

The campaign also advises against using the definite article "the" before the name of the country, i.e. "the Ukraine". The definite article is rarely found before the names of independent states, most stemming from the name either being a compound of a noun and an adjective or from a geographical region. For Ukraine, the addition of "the" is hypothesized to either derive from its time as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (compare with 'the Russian Federation') or due to the "Ukraine" being derived from "borderland", and "the Ukraine" meaning "the borderlands" (compare with 'The Netherlands').^[7] Many Ukrainians regard the use of "the Ukraine" as questioning Ukrainian sovereignty, especially after the beginning of the Russian military occupation of parts of Ukraine beginning in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

Critics argue that the campaign is populistic and was started to divert attention from more important problems.^[8][4]

KyivNotKiev campaign

Spelling of Kyiv prior to KyivNotKiev

In English, Kiev was used in print as early as 1804 in John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities" which appeared in Cary's New Universal Atlas published in London, as well as in Mary Holderness's travelogue New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev, published in 1823.^[9] The Oxford English Dictionary included Kiev in a quotation by 1883, and Kyiv in 2018.^[10] Transliterations based on Russian names became common practice because of aggressive Russification policies from the Russian Imperial and later Soviet governments.^{[11][better source needed]}

The transliteration Kyiv was legally mandated by the Ukrainian government in 1995.^[12] The transliteration was approved by the Tenth United Nations Conference on Standardization of Geographical Names in 2012, but did not catch on internationally.^[13][14] Prior to 2019, there were few cases of organizations switching to the "Kyiv" spelling.^[4][15][11] After the Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014, some Western media outlets opted to switch spellings.^[16]

Origin of the KyivNotKiev campaign

The "KyivNotKiev" campaign began with a fortnight-long "marathon". Every one or two days, the MFA published the title of foreign news outlets; on social media, Ukrainians would ask them to use Kyiv instead of Kiev. Ukrainian social media users also added "#KyivNotKiev" frames to their avatars. According to the MFA, ten of the most influential English-language global news outlets were affected: Reuters, CNN, BBC News, Al Jazeera, Daily Mail, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Euronews. Among the top Ukrainian officials who took part were: Minister of Healthcare, Ulana Suprun; Representative of Ukraine at the Council of Europe, Dmytro Kuleba; and the Member of the Verkhovna Rada, Yehor Soboliev. Thousands of Ukrainians participated, and the hashtag "#KyivNotKiev" was seen by more than 10 million social media users.^[17] During or shortly after the marathon, the BBC and The Guardian started using Kyiv. Later, the campaign shifted its attention to foreign airports, which used Kiev almost exclusively.^{[citation needed]}

Results of the KyivNotKiev campaign

After the campaign began, the name Kyiv became more common on English-speaking outlets including the BBC,^[18] The Guardian, Associated Press,^[19] The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post,^[20] Financial Times, The Economist,^[21] The Daily Telegraph,^[22] and The New York Times.^{[23][additional citation(s) needed]}

In June 2019, at the request of the United States Department of State, the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States, and Ukrainian organizations in America, the name Kyiv was officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the only correct name, resulting in the federal government of the United States solely using 'Kyiv'.^[24][25][26] Before that, both names were used.^[26]

One of the objectives of the campaign was to convince international airports to switch from Kiev to Kyiv. Previously, most airports refused to do so, saying that Kiev was specified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).^{[citation needed]} However, in October 2019, IATA switched to Kyiv, following the decision of the US Board on Geographic Names. Since the campaign's launch, 63 airports and 3 airlines worldwide (as of January 2020) have begun using the name Kyiv, even before it was adopted by IATA. Among them were Toronto Pearson, Luton, Manchester, Frankfurt, and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat.^[8]

In September 2020, the English Wikipedia switched from using Kiev to Kyiv.^[27]

As of 2022, the remaining major news websites that continue to use "Kiev" are mostly Russian-linked sites funded by the Russian government, such as TASS, Sputnik News and RT. These channels also habitually use Russian transliteration for all Ukrainian proper names, such as, Gostomel, Kharkov, Chernigov, Krivoy Rog, current Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky and former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko.^{[citation needed]}

In non-English languages

On 2 March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Korea announced that they would switch the Korean translation of Kyiv from the Russian-derived 키예프 Kiyepeu to the Ukrainian-derived 키이우 Kiiu. This had been requested by the Embassy of Ukraine in Korea the previous day.^[28]

On 31 March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan announced that they would switch the Japanese translation of Kyiv from the Russian-derived キエフ Kiefu to the Ukrainian-derived キーウ Kīu.^[29][30][31] This had been requested by the Embassy of Ukraine in Japan in 2019.^[32]

Taiwan, which uses Traditional Chinese, began using Ukrainian-derived transliterations from 24 March 2022. For example, National Academy for Educational Research updated its preferred transliteration to Kharkiv 哈爾基夫 Hāěrjīfū on 24 March,^[33] Luhansk 盧漢斯克 Lúhànsīkè on 14 April,^[34] and Zaporizhzhia 札波利扎 Zhábōlìzhā on 10 June.^[35] Both Kyiv and Kiev are transliterated as 基輔 Jīfǔ.^[36]

Similarly, United Nations switched to Ukrainian-derived transliterations in its official Simplified Chinese version. For example, when condemning the recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, it used Russian-derived 卢甘斯克 Lúgānsīkè on 25 February 2022^[37] but Ukrainian-derived 卢汉斯克 Lúhànsīkè on 2 March.^[38] When condemning the annexations on 30 September and 12 October, both used Ukrainian-derived 扎波里日亚 Zhābōlǐrìyà for Zaphorizhzhia and 卢汉斯克 Lúhànsīkè for Luhansk.^[39][40]

Effective 24 February 2024, two years after the full-scale invasion, Germany officially changed their spelling of the Ukrainian capital from Kiew to Kyjiw.^[41][42] This change had been requested by Ukrainian organizations in Germany in March 2022.^[43]

Some Portuguese-language media also use Kyiv rather than Kiev, despite the latter still being the formal name of the city in Portuguese.^[44][45]