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.
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.