Kiev 26 Aug : Maps of Kiev have been deemed out of date on Thursday when city officials launched an initiative to name 95 squares and streets with Russian or Soviet names according to city mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Streets in the Ukrainian capital named after 19th century Russian writers like Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev and Mikhail Lermontov have all had their names changed.
The same fateful fate extends to German communist philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels who were the names of many streets that were named across the Soviet Union, dpa news agency reported.
Other names that no longer appear on the streets of the capital city of Ukraine include the names of Soviet military commanders during World War II, as in addition to those that relate to Russian cities like Moscow, Rostov on Don and Magnitogorsk.
Despite having been born in Kiev, Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the most famous writers of the Soviet Union, has also been stripped of his name.
Every street in the question are set to be given Ukrainian names which include Heroes of the Azov Regiment Street, which refers to the group of Ukrainian soldiers who fought the line against Russian forces for several weeks in the tense Mariupol earlier in the year.
Klitschko said that the new names have not been all agreed on.
“This is a significant step to limit the control and the influence of the Russian aggressors as well as the perception of our past,” he said.
Some of the names that are being introduced will be selected by the Ukrainian public.Anyone in Ukraine can take part and over 6.5 million users are able to access a smartphone of the government application for this purpose.
The changes were revealed in time with the sixth month anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
int/shs
