Ukrainian cities plan to change hundreds of street names associated with Russia and Belarus | Globalism

On Wednesday, the Kyiv city council said it had compiled a list of 467 sites under consideration for renaming.

• Kyiv toppled a Soviet-era monument symbolizing Russian-Ukrainian friendship

These sites include a central square named after the writer Leon Tolstoy and a street called Lake Baikal. Minsk Street, the capital of Belarus, a close ally of Russiais also on the list.

since Ukraine Independence from the Soviet Union was declared in 1991, some cities were renamed to erase the legacy of the hated Soviet authorities. Now the authorities want to remove the names of Russian authors and poets, among others.

Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko warned last week against the mass removal of anything affiliated with Russia.

Quote from the Russian-born novelist UkraineNikolai Gogol, for example, said that some “characters belong to the World Heritage Stock”.

On Tuesday (26th), a Soviet-era monument that symbolized the friendship between the two countries was demolished in Kyiv Russia And Ukraine.

The statue showed a Ukrainian and Russian worker on a pedestal, and together they hold a Soviet friendship system. The statue is located under the “People’s Friendship Arch” erected in 1982 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union.

The monument symbolizes the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. Now we see what this “friendship” is: the destruction of Ukrainian cities, the destruction of Ukrainian lives, the killing of tens of thousands of peaceful people. “I am convinced that this monument has a completely different meaning now,” said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

The arch placed above the image will remain in place, but it will no longer be called the “People’s Friendship Arch” and will receive the colors of the Ukrainian flag (blue and yellow). There are no indications yet on what the new designation will be.