Киев is the Russian spelling, Ки́їв is the Ukrainian spelling. I have no idea why the English transliteration is using a "y" instead of "i". From what I can deduce Ukrainians pronounce it "Keeyiv", while the Russian pronunciation is "Keeyev". Putting a y instead of i (transliteratively), makes no sense to me. BTW, I've heard Russian speakers use an "i" sound almost interchangeably with the "eh" sound. My confusion deepens.
Should be Kiev right? Putin is removing the 'Y.' Am I understanding the implications of that correctly?
Y head
You are spot on about the y.
Киев is the Russian spelling, Ки́їв is the Ukrainian spelling. I have no idea why the English transliteration is using a "y" instead of "i". From what I can deduce Ukrainians pronounce it "Keeyiv", while the Russian pronunciation is "Keeyev". Putting a y instead of i (transliteratively), makes no sense to me. BTW, I've heard Russian speakers use an "i" sound almost interchangeably with the "eh" sound. My confusion deepens.
Right. And if it were spelled with a “y” it would make an “ooo” sound. Thus, would never work in the word Kiev.
Yeah, English Y = Russian OOO. That's one more reason the "y" doesn't make sense.