The head of Odesa RMA replied to Mayor Trukhanov: «If you want to walk along the imperial streets — there is Moscow»

Oleg Kiper, the head of the Odesa OVA, and Gennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa. Photo from the Telegram channel «Odessa.Official"

Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa regional administration, reacted to the dissatisfaction of the mayor Hennadii Trukhanov with the renaming of streets in Odesa and offered to take a walk in Moscow.

He published such an answer on his official Telegram page.

It is worth noting that a few days ago Hennadii Trukhanov expressed his dissatisfaction with the work of RMA regarding decolonization and renaming of toponyms in Odesa. He stated that such a policy is equal to the destruction of the city's DNA.

Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov with the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Photo: Genadiy Trukhanov/ Facebook

«If someone really likes to walk through streets with imperial/Soviet names, there are Moscow and Ufa, not Ukrainian Odesa. This will not happen in Odesa,» says the message of Oleh Kiper, the head of RMA.

According to him, modern Odessa should not have toponyms bearing the names of Soviet figures. He believes that Odesa today should get rid of imperial narratives and «not live in the past.»

«In the current realities, there is no place in a Ukrainian city for streets in honor of people who received medals from Putin's hands or cooperated with the KGB or glorified the Soviet union with the empire. Modern Ukrainian Odessa is about people, about young people who defend independence at the cost of their own lives and health, about modern artists, writers, poets,» said Oleh Kiper.

We will remind that the mayor of the city, Hennadii Trukhanov, promised to use all possible means to get the RMA's decision on the renaming canceled. After that, he launched a poll in his Telegram channel to find out the opinion of the city's residents.

Previously, NikVesti wrote that the opinion of the citizens was divided, because as of the morning of August 1, 54% fully supported the decision to change the name, and 46% voted against it.

As of 7:30 a.m. on August 2, more than 188,000 people took part in the vote, and the results of the survey were tied.

We will remind you that on Friday, July 26, the renaming process was completed and new names were approved for 411 streets and alleys in the Mykolaiv region.

Before that, the director of the Mykolaiv Zoo, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine, deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council from the «Proposal» party, member of the renaming commission and citizen of the year 2001 in the «Culture» nomination, Volodymyr Topchii spoke against the renaming of streets without taking into account the historical factor, in particular, he gave the example of Liahin, Falieievska and Potemkinska streets, emphasizing their historical significance for Mykolaiv.

Renaming of toponyms in Mykolaiv

In April 2023, the Mykolaiv City Council adopted a new regulation on renaming toponyms in order to get rid of all Russian names in the city. After that, the deputy commission on legality approved a new version of the regulation on the activities of the commission on toponymy, which was engaged in street renaming.

In particular, the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that there was a commission on toponymy in the city, which was engaged in street renaming, but its composition needed updating.

In August of the same year, it became known that the toponymic commission did not work. Due to the withdrawal of one of the candidates, the deputies of the city council had to update the composition of the commission. At the session on September 7, deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council approved the new composition of the toponymic commission. Major General Dmytro Marchenko was included in it, but with the note «by agreement». The very name of Dmytro Marchenko became one of those in honor of which the people of Mykolaiv propose to rename the streets of the city. The offer was submitted by 32 respondents. However, the general himself opposed such an idea.

In October 2023, the commission published the first proposals for renaming streets as part of the decolonization process. In particular, the head of the culture department of the Mykolaiv city council, who is also a member of the toponymy commission, Yuriy Lyubarov, said that Faleevska street, named after the city's first citizen, does not fall under the renaming law.

In January 2024, the work of the Toponymy Commission was completed in Mykolaiv — about 250 streets are being prepared for renaming. The head of the commission Oleksandr Tryhub told which streets will get new names according to modern Ukrainian spelling and historical context. In particular, among the central streets, Liahin, Pushkinska, Potemkinska and Admiral Makarov streets will receive new names.

Among other things, the commission proposed, as part of the decolonization process, to rename 40 streets with the names of those who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

In February, language obmudsman Taras Kremin criticized the pace of renaming in the Mykolaiv region. He stated that it was the south that once suffered the most from Russification, but the region is being stripped of its Russian names very slowly.

On May 1, the Mykolaiv City Council launched an online survey where residents can choose new toponyms in the city.

In July, the head of the Mykolaiv RMA, Vitalii Kim, believes that the city council has transferred the responsibility for renaming the city's streets to him.

Also read the article NikVesti — «Renaming streets of Mykolaiv: who does it, how and why? We explain.»