Ukraine erases Russian toponyms from public spaces

(20 Dec 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyiv, Ukraine - 15 December 2022 1. Various of man clearing snow ANNOTATION: Ukraine is erasing the centuries-long vestiges of Soviet and Russian influence from public spaces by removing monuments and renaming streets. 2. Various of fence with sign reading (Ukrainian): "Dostoevskogo street, 2" ANNOTATION: Streets are being renamed to honour Ukrainian artists, poets, military chiefs, independence leaders and even heroes of this year’s war. 3. Wide of street 4. Mid of dog 5. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Valeryi Sholomytskyi, 61, Kyiv resident: “I was happy (about the change of name of street), although I have a very good attitude towards Dostoevsky. I am a graduate of our National Academy of Arts in Kyiv. I eventually finished. That’s why I really like Andy Warhol Street.” 6. Close of fence with sign reading (Ukrainian): "Dostoevskogo street, 14/431" ANNOTATION: It is part punishment for Russia’s invasion and part affirmation of a long-overlooked national identity. ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyiv, Ukraine - 14 December 2022 7. Wide of Kyiv City Council building 8. Wide of deputy head of Kyiv City Council Volodymyr Prokopiv talking to AP journalists 9. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Volodymyr Prokopiv, deputy head of Kyiv City Council: "The names of the streets, the presence of certain monuments are not about toponymy, it is not about the decision of this or that local authority. This is about... maybe it will sound a little harsh - this is about the fact that Russia believed that Ukraine had no right to exist." 10. Close of list with street names UPSOUND (Ukrainian): "Blue - it means that decision is already done. Other colours are other stages with repeated voting." ANNOTATION: Their national identity is having what may be an unprecedented surge, in ways large and small. 11. Wide of Prokopiv talking to AP journalists ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyiv, Ukraine - 15 December 2022 12. A sign on residential building reading (Ukrainian): "Romana Ratushnoho street" ANNOTATION: Many Ukrainians who spoke Russian as their first language from birth now shun or at least limit use of it. 13. Wide of man and woman walking on street 14. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Tetyana Sapronova, Kyiv resident: “We are very pleased that this is being done. And our defenders... By their names, who died, so that the streets should be named. And there should be no Russian names. Such as Durzhba Narodov (translating to ‘friendship of countries’). What kind of friendship do we have? There is no (friendship) there already.” 15. Wide of street 16. Mid of residential building ANNOTATION: Since the start of the program, some 200 streets have been renamed in Kyiv, with 100 more on the way, the city authority said. 17. Sign on the residential building reading (Ukrainian): "Romana Ratushnoho street" STORYLINE: On the streets of Kyiv, Fyodor Dostoevsky is on the way out. Andy Warhol is on the way in. Ukraine is accelerating efforts to erase the vestiges of Soviet and Russian influence from its public spaces by pulling down monuments and renaming hundreds of streets to honor its own artists, poets, soldiers, independence leaders and others — including heroes of this year’s war. Following Moscow’s invasion on Feb. 24 that has killed or injured untold numbers of civilians and soldiers and pummeled buildings and infrastructure, Ukraine's leaders have shifted a campaign that once focused on dismantling its Communist past into one of “de-Russification.”