The parliament banned most Soviet and communist symbols, street names and monuments as part of the decommunization process in 2015. Many towns given new names under Soviet rule were renamed to reflect their Ukrainian identity.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law in April 2023 banning the naming of geographical sites in Ukraine after Russian personalities or historical events in response to the Russian invasion.
MP Roman Lozhinsky described the decision as "truly historic" and "one that should have been taken 33 years ago" when Ukraine gained independence.
"The names imposed on us by Moscow over the centuries will finally fall into the dustbin of history. Towns and villages will return to their historical names or get new ones proposed by local councils," Lozhinsky said.
The towns whose names will be changed include Chervonograd in the Lviv region. The town's name refers to the color red; until it was renamed by Soviet authorities in 1951, it was called Khrystynopil.
The new name, Sheptytsky, is the name of a Ukrainian bishop from the region.
The village of Krasnograd in Kharkiv Oblast, whose name also refers to the color red, will be renamed Berestin, after the nearby Berestova River.
The town of Druzhba in the Sumy region has been restored to the name of Khutyr Mikhailovsky. This was the original name of the town before it was changed to Druzhba, which means friendship, by the Soviet authorities in 1962.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the town has regularly come under attack because of its location. It lies a few kilometres from the border with Russia.
Novomoskovsk, a town in the Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, was renamed Samar, referring to the original name of the local Cossack settlement, renamed Moscow in 1794.
According to Lozhinsky, the Verkhovna Rada has yet to make a decision on the naming of another 200 settlements across Ukraine. | BGNES
