In Ukraine, the policy of Russification also known as de-Ukrainization, denationalization, started in the late 17th century in the period of Moskov tzarism and continued to be carried out by Russian empire and was succeeded by Soviet Union. For almost 300 years, the Russian regimes targeted their efforts to impose Russian national and political superiority with the subsequent assimilation of non-Russian nationalities residing in the Ukrainian territory through implanting the Russian language and culture.

The policy of Russification got its extreme reveletaion during Soviet occupational regime in 50s – 80s of the 20th century. At that time, it was dramatically growing and was implemented in all spheres of social life, education in particular. This process became obvious after the law 'On intensifying the connection between school and life and on the further development of the system of public education in the Ukrainian SSR' (1959) was passed, which de jure provided students with the right to study in their native language, and enabled parents to choose the language of education for their children, however, de facto, it became a powerful tool of purposeful Russification of school education. Since that time, there were evident processes of a considerable increase in the number of schools with the Russian language of instruction, alocating more studying time for learning Russian in the curriculum, the Russification of the content of education. Thus, school curricular emphasized that learning Russian 'has a great educational value, contributes to intensifying Ukrainian - Russian friendship, and involves students into the rich culture of the great Russian people’.

The Russification of school education took on an overt character after the adoption of the resolution 'On measures for further improvement of studying and teaching of the Russian language in the Ukrainian SSR' (1978), which focused on the introduction of the compulsory learning Russian from the 1st grade in schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction from 1980/81; on the introduction of class grouping for learning Russian; on the improvement of programs, textbooks and teaching materials for teaching Russian aiming at solving educational tasks, in particular, 'implanting students’ love" for the Russian language. 

Another attack on the Ukrainian as a language of instruction and as a subject was carried out by the resolution 'On additional measures to improve learning Russian in secondary schools and other educational institutions of the Union Republics' (1983). Adopting the document resulted in expanding the network of schools and classes with in-depth learning Russian; increased publication of educational, methodological and children's literature in Russian; offering additional payments and benefits to all Russian teachers etc.

The policy of Russification reached its peak in the mid-80s. The analysis of archive materials revealed that initially hidden and later overt Russification led to a significant shift in correlation between schools with Ukrainian and Russian languages of instruction. Therefore, while in 1954/55, 86.4% schools had  Ukrainian language of instruction and 13.6% - Russian, in 1983/84 this correlation looked respectively -  28.8% and 71.2%. By the mid-80s of the 20th century the number of schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction significantly decreased in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions whereas there was none left in the Crimean region. The result of a long-term purposeful policy of Russification was a considerable reduction not only of schools, but also of the contingent of learnes with Ukrainian as a language of their studies. In addition, the vast majority of them were students of rural schools. In cities and industrial areas, school education was almost totally russified.

Consequently, systematic and purposeful Russification imposed for decades led to development of young generation’s contempt to a mother tongue, culture, traditions.

The methodological basis of the research is the source science approach (provided the opportunity to identify and analyze various types of sources that highlight the issue of Russification of school education within the defined chronological limit) and historiographic approach (contributed to the identification of the state of the problem in the science of history of education), as well as the epistemological principles of historicism and objectivity , systematicity. A set of methods was used to implement the research goal: general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison, systematization, generalization, which became the basis of the study), historical-structural (contributed to the development of the research structure), historical-genetic (allowed to systematize factual information). During the study of the Russification of Ukrainian school education in the 1950s and 1980s legal documents related to language policy and school education of the late Soviet era and the first decade of Ukraine's state independence were used, a significant amount of documents and materials stored in the funds of the Central State Archive of authority and administration of Ukraine, as well as curricula, programs, textbooks used in schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction within certain chronological limits were studied.

Significant changes in language policy took place in the late1980s. In 1989, the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Law 'On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR' (1989), which legally established the status of Ukrainian as the state language and made it mandatory for all students to learn it. Democratic changes in society, the restoration of Ukraine's state independence in 1991 contributed to the revival of the national school, with the increased focus on learning Ukrainian, making the educational content more Ukrainian oriented, and the development of students’ national identity. Despite these changes, the long-lasting policy of Russification made its impact on preventing Ukrainian school from the development. The documents of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine from the early 90s of the 20th century evidenced this fact, mentioning the slow pace of restoration of Ukrainian schools and the introduction of the Ukrainian language into the educational process, especially in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine (in the settlements of Snizhnyi, Khartsyzka, Selidovo, In Yenakiyevo, Yasynuvatiy, Avdiyivtsi, as well as Volodarskyi, Novoazovskyi, Yasinuvatskyi districts of Donetsk region, not a single school or class with the Ukrainian language of instruction functioned, furthermore, it is worth mentioning that exactly this area has been under Russian occupation since 2014). The documents also highlight that such subjects as PE, art, handmade were taught in Russian even at schools with Ukrainian language of instruction, as well as they evidenced facts of school authority opposition against Ukrainian language introduction. Therefore, in 1993, the Ministry of Education of Ukraine made a decision, among other measures, to equip educational institutions only with teaching staff who could teach and educate students in Ukrainian. Nowadays, in addition to sovereignty and territorial integrity protection, Ukrainian people fiercely struggle against Russian aggression for preserving their cultural space and national identity.

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