It's actually more accurate to the Ukrainian pronunciation to say "Key-iv" but that doesn't sound very different from the Russian, so people are smoothing it into "Keev" to show they're not doing it Russian style.
I don't think that Westerners could pronounce "hard i" in Ukrainian pronunciation, and this is the primary difference in pronunciation, compared to "usual i" in Russian pronunciation.
Yeah, the actual Ukrainian pronunciation doesn't work in English phonology. We can't do it without a bunch of practice and effort. So it's all just approximations.
It's actually more accurate to the Ukrainian pronunciation to say "Key-iv" but that doesn't sound very different from the Russian, so people are smoothing it into "Keev" to show they're not doing it Russian style.
So also libs stumbling into dividing a nation into ethnicities along arbitrary lines.
That's actually literally what Putin is trying to do
Libs and accidentally carrying water for bad things. Name a more iconic duo
Ukrainian pronunciations
Russian pronunciations
the second Russian example (by sohvi) is actually closest to saying Keev to my Anglo ears.
I don't think that Westerners could pronounce "hard i" in Ukrainian pronunciation, and this is the primary difference in pronunciation, compared to "usual i" in Russian pronunciation.
Yeah, the actual Ukrainian pronunciation doesn't work in English phonology. We can't do it without a bunch of practice and effort. So it's all just approximations.
The funniest thing is that closest approximation to both Ukrainian and Russian pronunciation is the same.