While mostly in agreement, I think the labeling of Kiev can get a bit of a pass on. I mean, the major language of the city is Russian and people grew up with it as Kiev. It takes time for adaption. For me, my favourite Soviet ship was the Kiev, I learnt in history about Kievan Rus, and of course there is Chicken Kiev. In my writing on Medium and elsewhere I use Kyiv now, but only since the war started. And only because Ukrainians have made a point of it. But if I accidentally wrote Kiev, I shouldn’t be so condemned.

Bernadict Cumberbatch in his speech talked about helping “The Ukraine” which even I knew was a no-no. But it is also a common mistake to have “The” because we grew up with it. It took a long time, years, for people to say Beijing not Peking. Turkey has now become Turkiye and that will take a while for people to get used to it.

So while correcting people is fine, don’t assume if someone says Kiev not Kyiv that hey are some Kremlin troll or enemy of the Ukrainian people. I know people today who still say Burma, for instance. It takes time.