Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov criticized the renaming of toponyms in the city, which was approved by the Odesa Regional Military Administration. At the same time, the head of the latter Oleh Kiper emphasized that streets named after people associated with Russia or the Soviet Union have no place in the Ukrainian city.
Hennadii Trukhanov stated that the renaming "zeroes our city", and therefore, in order to cancel the decision of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, the Odesa City Council is "forced to take all measures provided for by law".
The mayor of Odesa does not agree with the renaming of, for example, Pushkinska, Bunin, Zhukovsky, Babel, Ilf and Petrov streets, and Zhvanetsky Boulevard. He says that the fate of the names of the Odesa toponyms should be determined by the residents of the city through discussion.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper reacted to these words and wrote that "if someone really hates walking through streets with imperial/Soviet names, there are Moscow and Ufa, not Ukrainian Odesa. This will not happen in Odesa."
Here are some new toponyms in Odesa after the renaming:
- Italiyska Street instead of Pushkinska Street;
- Boulevard of the Naval Forces instead of Zhvanetskyi Boulevard;
- 28 Brigade Street instead of Paustovsky Street;
- Yaroslav the Wise Avenue instead of Academician Hlushko Avenue;
- Lesi Ukrainky Avenue instead of Haharin Avenue;
- Hospitallers Lane instead of Lermontov Lane;
- Teatralna Lane instead of Tchaikovsky Lane;
- Reshat Ametov Street instead of Roman Karmen Street;
- Noman Chelebijikhan square instead of Paustovsky square.
Other toponyms were also renamed in honor of Ukrainian soldiers, scientists, artists and educators.
- Recently, the mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov also spoke out against the renaming of toponyms in the city, which were approved by the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration. Filatov stated that "now the Dnipro City Council is choosing legal procedures, how exactly to stop this madness," referring to the renaming.