It is as important to consider separately a language from the people that speak it as it is to consider separately those people from the actions of their government. People rarely get to choose their native tongue or the government they are born under.

Language alone does not define a people nor does a common language unite a people. In Ukraine there are many loyal Ukrainians that only speak Russian. Ukraine is an example of a pluralistic multilingual society that until this war had no problem with people speaking either.

I started learning Russian when I went to Ukraine 4 years ago. I continue to learn it now even though my friends there speak both. Russian is easier for a westerner to learn than Ukrainian. First there are just more resources for learning Russian, more books, more lessons, etc. Second Russian is actually a much easier language to learn than Ukrainian. Russian is a very standardized language. Ukrainian has many regional dialects. On a recent trip I had a friend from one region help translate both languages for me (my Russian is still not that good) and while she was from the Zaporizhzhia in the east, there were times when my other friend would speak in Ukrainian but she did not know some words because these were specific to a dialect from the Carpathians region.

I guess my point is that thanks to the efforts of the USSR over 60 years, Russian is still a widely spoken language and often the second language of many people from post soviet countries. In this regard it has a power to reach across international boarders in these regions much as English does elsewhere. It might not be a popular language right now but it still has its place and will continue to be spoken by many