в vs. на Украине

[wordchick.livejournal.com]

My first Russian teacher was a wonderful woman, as well as being an incredible St. Petersburg snob. She was very particular about our language and pronunciation and emphasized the fact that Ukraine, alone of non-island countries, takes на. I have subsequently lived in Ukraine and discovered that these days, Ukrainians use на and в interchangeably, though tending to use в more often. My most recent Russian teacher (a Ukrainian) told me that using на is out of date. like saying the Ukraine.

However, on Russian television, everyday people often say на. What is the general Russian opinion? The learned, linguistic opinion? Are they the same? Thanks in advance.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/neko_/]

But now you still can say about geographical area. Is doesn't depend of belongings to any counries. That's why Russians usualy use "на Украине" (which is right for Russian language itself), but not "в Украине".
And according to investigations of linguists the form with "на" was used long before Russian empire and USSR, just like "на Орловщине" or "на Брянщине".
The form of "в" is now accepted in Ukraine for using in all official situation, just like an accent on a country's independence.