Ukrainian (or українська мова, pronounced [ukraˈjiɲskɐ ˈmɔvɐ] in Ukrainian) has its origin back in the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kievan Rus’. From 1804 until the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire, of which Eastern Ukraine was a part at the time, but succeeded to keep its authenticity by using informal methods such as songs and folklore, along with Ivan Kotlyarevsky’s Eneyida, which was the first book to be published in Ukrainian and has become a classic. Writing system: Cyrillic (Ukrainian alphabet) Official language in: Ukraine