Ukraine's Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development adopted a decision to rename five cities and 104 villages that were given Russian or Soviet names, lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi announced on social media on March 20.
Ukraine's parliament outlawed most Soviet and communist symbols, street names, and monuments as part of a decommunization process in 2015, and many cities, which had received new names under the Soviet authorities, were renamed to reflect their Ukrainian identity.
President Volodymyr Zelensky then signed a law in April 2023 that banned naming geographic sites in Ukraine after Russian figures or historical events in response to the Russian invasion.
The cities to be renamed include Chervonohrad in Lviv Oblast. The city, whose name refers to the color red, was called Khrystynopil until it was renamed by the Soviet authorities in 1951.
The new name, Sheptytskyi, was the name of a Ukrainian bishop from the region.
The parliamentary committee proposed Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to Matviiv, a reference to the original Cossack settlement founded in what is now Pavlohrad by Cossack leader Matvii Khizhnyak in the 18th century.
Pavlohrad was named in 1781 after the son of Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who later became Russian Emperor Paul, or Pavlo in Ukrainian.
Brovary in Kyiv Oblast will not be entirely renamed, but the spelling will change to Brovari to reflect the Ukrainian spelling of the city.
The decision still requires final approval by Ukraine's Parliament, Lozynskyi said.
Elsa Court
(Updated: )
