About why people from Donbass fleeing to Russia, since 2014, there is more than 1 million people left separatist controlled territory for Ukraine. Current evacuation is done by DNR authorities in a centralized manner. Given the escalation of conflict, it is dangerous to be near “contact line” and evacuate to Ukraine.

Ukraine voted for Zelensky for two reasons:

1. He is not a radical, his message was conciliatory, he can represent both east and west. He is a Russian-speaking Jew, so that’s rather removed from Ukrainian nationalism for example.

2. Demand for new faces, same old oligarchs/career politicians didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Also Zelenskiy is more of tycoon/ media executive, not just a comedian.

Russian language was removed from the government in 1991, everyone is bilingual in Ukraine, language is a talking point only outside of Ukraine. Again, nobody is strict about that, people use whatever language they want anywhere, except for official documents.