For the second year in a row, urban and rural settlements are undergoing a process of changing street names as part of de-Russification. However, the number of streets to be renamed is so large that completion of this process may take a long time.
In which cities have street names recently been changed as part of de-Russification?
The process of de-Russification began in Ukraine almost immediately after the full-scale Russian invasion. In some places it happened more actively, and in others a little slower. So, let’s analyze where and what has been renamed recently.
Zaporozhye
For example, in Zaporozhye in the fall of this year, almost 100 streets were renamed and in general this concerned names in honor of various Russian cities. Even at the beginning of autumn in Zaporozhye there were Novokuznetskaya, Orenburgskaya and Irkutskaya streets. Now they have the names of Vladimir Ukrainian, Atamansk and Yuri Schulte, respectively. In addition, at the end of September, Kuzbassky Lane was renamed, which is now called Shakhtarsky. In turn, Belgorodskaya street was renamed Belotserkovskaya, and Armavirskaya street is already called Mukachevo. Now in Zaporozhye there is Sicheslavskaya Street, which until October of this year was called Norilskaya.
There was also a Sibirskaya street in the city, which is now called Gdanskaya street, and Anadyrsky lane was renamed Kantserovsky.
Dnieper
In Dnieper, about 250 streets have been de-Russified since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. And here the situation is similar to Zaporozhye, where there were many streets named after cities or geographical names of Russia. So, in September, Anapa Street was renamed Svetlodarskaya Street, and Arkhangelskaya Street - Irklievskaya. There was even a Groznenskaya street in the city, which is now called Gulyaipolskaya.
Omelnitskaya Street gave a new name to the former Zabaikalskaya Street. Kurskaya Street was renamed Poselkovaya Street, and Lipetsk Street - Finnskaya.
Kharkiv
It looks like the situation with renaming streets in Kharkov is like two peas in a pod from Zaporozhye and Dnieper. It also had its own streets: Murmanskaya, Khabarovskaya, Tomskaya. Now they are respectively called Uyutnaya, Glukhovskaya and Vladimir Sosyury.
Zabaikalskaya Street was renamed Leontovicha Street, and Novosibirskaya Street - Khortitskaya Street. Alexander Nevsky Street was renamed Zaikovskaya Street.
Vinnitsa
In Vinnitsa, after the start of a full-scale war, more than one and a half hundred streets have already been renamed. Now the city has a Street of Police Heroes, because it was the police, together with other security forces, who stood up to defend the country after February 24, 2022. Previously, the Street of Police Heroes was named after the Russian poet Blok. And Voinov-Internationalists Street was renamed Polytechnicheskaya Street. In turn, Decembrist Street was named after Oleksa Dovbush. The street, formerly called Kutuzova, is named in honor of the Kotenkov brothers, who died defending Ukraine from a full-scale Russian invasion. There was also Alexander Nevsky Street in Vinnitsa, but now it is named after Vaclav Havel.
Kropyvnytskyi
In this city, the situation with renaming was at a high level even before the full-scale invasion, because for many years local deputies purposefully changed the names of streets associated with communism or Russia. However, as of the fall of this year, there were still streets that needed renaming. For example, in September, Cosmonaut Popov Street changed its name to Independence Street, and Pavlova Street was renamed to Peter Yatsyk Street, a famous Canadian entrepreneur of Ukrainian origin. There was a Tselinnaya Street in the city, but now it is called the street in honor of Vasily Mark, a Ukrainian literary scholar.
Chernigov
As for Chernigov, there is also a struggle going on here with the streets in honor of everything Russian. For example, in the summer the street of Gulak-Artemovsky, a Ukrainian composer, appeared in the city. Previously, this street was called Glinka.
There was a street in the city called Oleksa Desnyak, a Soviet journalist from the Chernihiv region who served as editor of the October magazine. Now this street is named after the Ukrainian poet Vasily Symonenko. Nekrasova Street was renamed in honor of Evgeniy Kalita, a representative of the Chernigov mathematical school.
West of Ukraine
If we take the cities of western Ukraine, then, of course, there are much fewer streets with names associated with Russia. They were simply renamed here long before the full-scale Russian invasion. However, some still remained. For example, in Lutsk in the summer Griboedova Street was renamed, which is now called Zvytyazhna. There was Pushkin Street in Lutsk this summer, but then it was renamed Svyatovasilievskaya Street. In turn, the street of Kondrat Ryleev, a Russian poet, was renamed in honor of Alexander Baidukov, an Honored Artist of Ukraine.
In Lviv, for example, many streets were renamed even before the full-scale invasion, so there were not many names in the city associated with Russia or the Russian Empire. After February 24, 2022, the street was renamed, which was named after the Russian poet Ryleev. Now it is named after the Ukrainian physicist Ivan Vakarchuk, who was also the long-time rector of Lviv University. There was also a street in Lviv in honor of the Russian writer Alexander Herzen, but it was renamed in honor of the Ukrainian composer Igor Bilozir. Of course, Chekhov Street in Lviv was also renamed, which is now named in honor of Patriarch Dimitry Yarema.
Kyiv
If we take the capital of Ukraine into analysis, then the massive process of renaming streets began back in 2014 as part of decommunization. However, after the full-scale Russian invasion, city officials took up the de-Russification of streets and various objects. For example, as of July 2023, according to the Kiev City Council, almost 600 different objects were renamed in the capital. Moreover, only a third were renamed as part of decommunization, and all the rest were renamed as part of de-Russification. There are about 2,800 urban names in Kyiv: streets, alleys, squares, avenues, descents, boulevards, passages, highways, embankments. That is, it turns out that since 2014, every fifth street in the capital has changed its name. In 2022 and to the present day, a process of de-Russification is also taking place in the capital. So, let’s analyze by district which streets were renamed precisely as part of the fight against everything Russian after the full-scale Russian invasion.
Goloseevsky district
For example, Dekabristov Street was renamed into Tarasovtsev Brotherhood Street. The street received this name in honor of a secret political organization that fought for the liberation of the Ukrainian nation from the Moscow yoke. Karl Marx Street was renamed in honor of the German poet and playwright Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
Kronstadt Street was renamed in honor of Vladimir Rybak, Hero of Ukraine posthumously. In 2014, pro-Russian terrorists tortured him to death in Donbass.
Desnyansky district
Here Belomorskaya Street was renamed in honor of activist from Kherson Ekaterina Handzyuk, who died as a result of an attack in 2018. Also in the area appeared the street of Alexei Kurinny, a legal scholar and expert on the development of the Ukrainian language. Before the renaming, this street was called Karl Marx.
Kuzbasskaya street was renamed Latviyskaya, and Magnitogorskaya in honor of Yakov Gnezdovsky, an American artist of Ukrainian origin. One of the longest avenues in the Desnyansky district of Vladimir Mayakovsky has been called Chervonaya Kalina since last year.
Dneprovsky district
Last year, deputies of the Kyiv City Council renamed Truda Boulevard, which is now named after the Ukrainian writer Ivan Kotlyarevsky. Also in the Dnieper district until last year there were many streets with Russian geographical names. For example, Taganrogsky Lane was renamed Skadovsky Lane in honor of the city in the Kherson region, and Taganrogskaya Street was named in honor of the Volyn and Galician Prince Lubart. Astrakhansky Lane is now named in honor of Prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, and Chelyabinskaya Street was renamed in honor of the Ukrainian writer Panteleimon Kulish.
Svyatoshinsky district
In the Svyatoshinsky district there is already a Ukrainian Revival street. Previously it was called Budarina. The area also had many names in honor of the Soviet poet Samuil Marshak. Therefore, Marshak Street was renamed in honor of the outstanding Kyiv merchant Joseph Marshak. Marshak Lane is now called Commercial, and Marshak 2nd Lane - in honor of the Tarasevich Family - outstanding Ukrainian engravers. And Marshak 3rd Lane is now called Jewelry.
Solomensky district
Until 2022, there were streets with Russian geographical names in this area. For example, Moskovsky Lane is now named after the Ukrainian theater and film actor Pavel Li, who was in territorial defense and died in March 2022 near Irpen. Donskoy Lane is now called Karaimsky in honor of the Karaites - one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine.
Since last year, in the Solomensky district there has been a street of the Brodsky Family - famous Kyiv philanthropists. Previously, this street was called Smolenskaya. Piterskaya street is now called Londonskaya, and Novgorodskaya - Novgorod-Severskaya in honor of the city in the Chernihiv region.
Volgogradskaya street was renamed in honor of Roman Ratushny. Roman Ratushny was a famous Kyiv public figure who, while defending Ukraine, died near Izyum.
Obolonsky district
Last year Klara Zetkin Street was renamed Dneprovskaya Chaika Street, and Michurina Street was renamed Nikolsko-Khutorskaya.
Also in this area, until last year, two streets were named after Soviet marshals. Thus, Marshal Timoshenko Street was renamed in honor of the Ukrainian political figure and dissident Levko Lukyanenko, and Marshal Malinovsky Street is now named in honor of the Heroes of the Azov Regiment.
Pechersky district
Oddly enough, until 2022, in the Pechersky district there was Moskovskaya Street, which was renamed Knyazei Ostrogsky Street. Also in this area there was the Tverskaya deadlock, which is now called the Fortress deadlock.
A street appeared here named in honor of the Ukrainian military man, Hero of Ukraine, General Kulchytsky, who died near Slavyansk defending Ukraine. Previously, this street was called Alexandra Matrosova.
Podolsky district
There was even a Tagilsky Lane in this area, which is now called Boykovsky Lane in honor of the Boyks, an ethnographic group of Ukrainians. And Rostovskaya Street was renamed Lutskaya Street. Kuzma Scriabin Lane also appeared. This is what the former Alexander Bestuzhev Lane is now called.
Shevchenkivskyi district
As part of de-Russification last year, many streets in one of the central districts of the capital, Shevchenkovsky, were renamed.
For example, Groznenskaya Street was renamed Ichkerskaya Street. This is exactly how the deputies of the Kyiv City Council decided to thank the Chechen volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine.
In the Shevchenko district there is also a street called Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel. This policy was a native of Kyiv. Previously, Meir Street was called Krasnodarskaya.
So, as we see, the process of de-Russification in the cities of Ukraine is taking place, but it turns out that even two years are not enough for officials to completely eradicate everything Russian from the names of streets or avenues. After all, be that as it may, in some cities there are still streets that are named after something that is somehow connected with Russia.
