July 1, 2025, 9:52 a.m.
(Photo collage: Intent)
Electronic public discussions on the renaming of two streets, a lane and a park in Odesa, which began on May 1, ended on July 1 with the citizens supporting the renaming of three place names.
As noted on the Socially Active Citizen platform, they supported the renaming of a street and a lane in honor of Ukrainian heroes who died defending the country from Russian invaders and a park in honor of writer Lesya Ukrainka.
They did not support the proposal to rename Kanatnyi Lane in Odesa's Prymorskyi district after Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. The renaming was supported by 169 out of 503 people who took part in the poll, while 334 voted against it.
Mihai Eminescu is a respected figure in Romanian national literature and culture. During his life, he visited Odesa several times, was treated at Kuyalnyk, and left his memories of the city. In 2022, the Odesa Regional National and Cultural Romanian Association "Bessarabia" appealed to the Odesa City Council, personally to Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov, and the city's historical and toponymic commission to consider renaming one of the streets in the historic part of the city after the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. In early 2023, Odesa's historical and toponymic commission approved the possibility of renaming one of the streets in the city's historic district after the Romanian poet.
The citizens agreed to name the park at the corner of Fontanska Road and Lesia Ukrainka Avenue (formerly Gagarin Avenue) after Lesia Ukrainka, and the mayor's office is also discussing the installation of a monument to the poet there.
As for renaming streets and alleys after Ukrainian heroes, we are talking about Chapaeva Street in Peresypskyi district (formerly Suvorovskyi), which is planned to be named after Viacheslav Kyrylov.
In 2014, Viacheslav Kyrylov became a member of the Odesa public law enforcement unit, an activist of the Public Safety Council, and an instructor in tactical medicine and equipment for the Storm special forces unit. As a volunteer, he assisted the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of this unit. He accompanied cargoes to the ATO zone. On February 15, 2015 he was killed in the battles with Russian armed forces between Mariupol and Novoazovsk, repelling an attack on the village of Shyrokyne. He was posthumously awarded the Order "For Courage" of the III degree, the honorary badge "Mariupol. We defended - we won" and the medal "Defender of Mariupol".
Chapayeva Street in Peresypsky district was proposed to be renamed in honor of Vyacheslav Kirillov due to the fact that the toponymic objects located nearby, in particular 9 Chapayevsky lanes, were previously renamed in honor of fallen ATO heroes.
The renaming of Serednya Street in Khadzhibeyskiy district to Oleksandr Svishch Street was supported by 802 out of 1,201 Odessans who took part in the survey.
Oleksandr Svishch is a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Hero of Ukraine (2024, posthumously). During the full-scale war, he took his first battle near Kyiv, in the village of Moshchun. On September 3, 2022, he was enlisted in the III separate assault brigade of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He took part in the battles near Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and in the Donetsk direction. During one of the assaults, he received shrapnel wounds caused by a grenade explosion, and soon returned to service. He died on September 12, 2023, while performing a combat mission near the village of Bakhmut, Donetsk region.
Oleksandr Svishch was connected to Serednya Street by his place of work.
Кирило Бойко