The Russian language in effect has official status and the same capabilities and rights as the Ukrainian language in the regions of Ukraine where Russian-speaking people are predominate, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.

"Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov - who, by the way, was born in Dnipropetrovsk - made a decision to keep in force the law on languages in the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko edition, which was adopted in 2012, with full support from me as prime minister of Ukraine. This law is still in effect," he said in his address to the residents of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.

"Under this law, the Russian language has de-jure regional status and is in effect an official language and has the same capabilities and rights as the Ukrainian language in all regions where Russian-speaking people are predominate. Guarantees for the Russian language are outlined in Article 10 of the Constitution," he said.

"No one is trying to take away your right to freely use the Russian language," Yatseniuk said.

"Russian is the same language for Ukrainian patriots, same as Ukrainian," he said.