Derussification in Ukraine

Derussification in Ukraine is a process of removing Russian influence from Ukraine. This derussification started after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The speed of derussification increased with the demolition of monuments and statues of Lenin during the Euromaidan protests in 2014. The Russo-Ukrainian War increased the speed of derussification in Ukraine.

The process is done by renaming everything named after Russian statesmen, cultural figures, and of everything that were believed to reflect the Russian worldview, or anything related with Russia. As of 8 April 2022, according to a poll by the group Rating, 76% of Ukrainians support the renaming of streets and other objects whose names are associated with Russia.

In March 2023, the Ukrainian parliament passed the Law of Ukraine "On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy", which forbade the study of place names associated with Russia.

On 21 April 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law. This law prohibits studying of name of places that praises or glorifies Russia, people who did on war against Ukraine or any other country. A series of places have already been renamed based on this law.

History

The process of derussification started with the fall of the Soviet Union, but since the issue of decommunization was a huge problem, derussification only received little attention. After the 2014 Crimean War, derussification started to grow. The decommunization process in Ukraine was almost been completed by 2022, the derussification process became faster after the Russian war of Ukraine.

Process of derussification

On 28 February 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued a decision and cancelled the Kolesnichenko-Kivalov Law. The law had earlier accepted Russian and other minority languages as regional languages of Ukraine. Due to this rule, minority languages like Russian was allowed to be used in courts, schools and other government institutions in Ukraine where the minorities had their population more than 10%.

On 23 October 2020, the Zaporizhzhia District Administrative Court refused to grant the Russian language the status of regional language in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Places that were renamed due to de-russification

• The Verkhovna Rada launched the de-Russification policy on 4 February 2016

• The city of Dnipropetrovsk was renamed to Dnipro on 19 May, 2016.
• On 1 July 2017, the Chernivtsi City Council renamed Moscow Olympics street to the Sich Riflemen street.
• On 30 October 2019, the Verkhovna Rada renamed Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi to Pereiaslav.
• In October 2022, the Krasnohrad City Council renamed Pushkin street and Yuri Gagarin street.
• In May 2023 Poltava renamed Nikolai Nikitchenko Street in honour of Dzhokhar Dudayev.
• On 19 September 2024, the Verkhovna Rada renamed many places. They are Novomoskovsk to Samar, Pershotravensk to Shakhtarske, Pervomaisk to Sokolohirsk, Molodohvardiisk to Otamanivka, Sievierodonetsk to Siverskodonetsk, Chervonohrad to Sheptytskyi, Druzhba to Khutir-Mykhailivskyi, Krasnohrad to Berestyn, Pervomaiskyi to Zlatopil, and Vatutine to Bahacheve.
• On 9 October 2024, the Verkhovna Rada renamed the cities of Yuzhnoukrainsk to Pivdennoukrainsk and Yuzhne to Pivdenne.

Statues and monuments destroyed due to de-russification

• On 26 April 2022, the bronze sculpture of the Soviet-era People's Friendship Arch demolished in Kyiv.
• On 21 April 2022, a Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya monument was destroyed in Chernihiv.
• A Pushkin statue was also demolished.
• The Monument to the founders of Odesa, also known as the monument to Empress Catherine II and her companions was demolished on 28 December 2022.
• On 1 August 2023, the Hammer and Sickle of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv by the Ukrainian coat of arms was removed. The statue was renamed as Mother Ukraine.

Places that were shut down due to de-russification

On 25 October 2016, the Lviv Oblast Council evicted the Russian Cultural Center and rent the premises to groups that are involved in the Ukrainian army's operations in eastern Ukraine against pro-Russian separatists, such as in Donetsk and Luhansk.

References

1. ↑ Онищенко, Вікторія (2023-07-27). "Ready, Set, Go Decolonization! How New Law Changes Public Spaces of Ukraine - Transparency International Ukraine". Retrieved 2026-04-06.
2. 1 2 "Eighth National Poll: Ukraine in War Conditions (April 6, 2022)" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
3. ↑ Onyshchenko, Viktoriia (27 July 2023). "Ready, Set, Go Decolonization! How New Law Changes Public Spaces of Ukraine". Transparency International Ukraine. Archived from the original on 4 August 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
4. ↑ "76% of Ukrainians support renaming streets and other objects related to Russia". Nikopol.City (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
5. ↑ Steshenko, Anna (21 March 2023). "Geographical names associated with Russia have been banned in Ukraine". Lb.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
6. 1 2 Petrenko, Roman; Mazurenko, Alona (22 April 2023). "Zelenskyy signs law banning place names associated with Russia". Ukrainska Pravda. Archived from the original on 13 November 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
7. ↑ "Ukraine accelerates 'de-Russification' process, erases Russian past from public spaces". Firstpost. 2022-12-20. Retrieved 2026-04-06.
8. ↑ "Ukraine: from decommunisation to derussification". OSW Centre for Eastern Studies. 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2026-04-06.
9. ↑ "КСУ визнав неконституційним мовний закон Ківалова- Колесніченка" [The KSU recognized the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law as unconstitutional]. www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). November 29, 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
10. ↑ Reznik, Vladislava (2018). "Language Policy in Independent Ukraine: A Battle for National and Linguistic Empowerment". Language Planning in the Post-Communist Era. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 179. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70926-0_7. ISBN 978-3-319-70925-3.
11. ↑ "У Запоріжжі суд скасував рішення про надання російській статусу регіональної" [In Zaporizhzhia, the court overturned the decision to grant Russian regional status]. www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 6 November 2020. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
12. ↑ "Verkhovna Rada renames Dnipropetrovsk as Dnipro". kyivpost.com.
13. ↑ "Про перейменування окремих населених пунктів та районів" [On renaming of certain settlements and raions]. Офіційний вебпортал парламенту України (in Ukrainian). 2 April 2016. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
14. ↑ "Verkhovna Rada renames Dnipropetrovsk as Dnipro". kyivpost.com.
15. ↑ "Вулицю Московської Олімпіади перейменували" [Moscow Olympics street was renamed] (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-11-20.
16. ↑ УІНП (30 October 2019). "Верховна Рада перейменувала місто Переяслав-Хмельницький" [The Verkhovna Rada renamed the city Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi]. УІНП (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-11-29.
17. ↑ (in Ukrainian) Gagarin, Pushkin, Mayakovsky: the Kharkiv region continues to change the streets, SQ (19 October 2022)
18. ↑ "A memorial plaque to Dzhokhar Dudayev was opened in Poltava". Istorychna Pravda (in Ukrainian). 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
19. ↑ Anastasia Dobryak (30 November 2022). "Streets of Kukoba and Heroes of Stalingrad. List for the second round of renaming in Poltava". Zmist (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 February 2024.
20. ↑ Проект Постанови про перейменування окремих населених пунктів та районів [Draft resolution on renaming individual populated places and raions]. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
21. ↑ "Про перейменування міста Южноукраїнськ Вознесенського району Миколаївської області на місто Південноукраїнськ". Official portal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 2024-10-09.
22. ↑ "Про перейменування міста Южне Одеського району Одеської області на місто Південне". Official portal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 2024-10-09.
23. ↑ "Обезголовлена "радянщина". Як проходить демонтаж монумента "возз'єднання Росії та України" в Києві – фото". nv.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
24. ↑ "Kyiv pulls down Soviet-era monument symbolising Russian-Ukrainian friendship". Reuters.
25. 1 2 monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was demolished in Chernihiv, Suspilne (April 21, 2022 (in Ukrainian) Chernihiv was de-Russified by Pushkin, Ukrayinska Pravda (April 30, 2022)
26. ↑ Higgins, Charlotte (2023-05-05). "Pushkin must fall: monuments to Russia's national poet under threat in Ukraine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-06.
27. ↑ Ilona Yakimyuk (28 December 2022). "Monument to Catherine II is being dismantled in Odesa". Suspilne (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 28 December 2022.Maria Kabashi (28 December 2022). "Odesa city authorities have confirmed the dismantling of the monument to Catherine". Zhyttia ("Life") (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 28 December 2022.
28. ↑ "Odesa begins dismantling monument to Russian empress". The Kyiv Independent. 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
29. ↑ "В Одесі пізно ввечері почали демонтаж пам'ятника Катерині II". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). 29 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
30. ↑ "Ukraine replaces Soviet hammer and sickle with trident on towering Kyiv monument". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
31. ↑ "Culture Ministry: Work begins to replace Soviet symbols on Motherland Monument". The Kyiv Independent. 30 July 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
32. ↑ "Controversy surrounds Russian cultural center". dw.com. Retrieved 2026-04-06.
33. ↑ "Lviv authorities evict Russian Cultural Center from its office". Interfax.