The head of the Lviv OVA criticized the mayor of Odesa and called on the SBU to check him due to the scandal surrounding the change of toponyms
The head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi criticized the mayor of Odesa, Gennady Trukhanov, because of his position on the renaming of toponyms. Kozytskyi has his point of view expressed у Telegram.
“In the third year of full-scale open war, the mayor of Odessa defends the Russian imperial myth.
It would seem a completely logical, predictable and legal completion of the decommunization process: from April 27 to July 27, 2024, according to the law, the heads of regional military administrations were obliged to complete the decolonization process, if the communities had not done so in the previous 9 months.
Therefore, in the last days of July, changes in the names of toponyms were actively discussed in Ukraine, mainly in large cities. But if some communities in the west of Ukraine simply did not hurry, did not have time, did not fully understand the law, were indignant because they did not know about such obligations and deadlines, then the mayor of Odesa, Gennadiy Trukhanov, even edited a special video. In it, he openly defends the imperial historical myth that Odessa does not exist without “great” Russian culture, without Putin’s medal bearer Zhvanetsky, Pushkin, Ilf and Petrov, and a number of other people who associate Odessa with Russian history and culture. The same Odesa, which is now being bombarded by Russia every day and every night with everything it can. Does Mr. Trukhanov have some kind of Stockholm syndrome – when the victim continues to love his executioner, or did he just decide to hype up the nostalgic voters? There is a third option. And it should be checked by the Security Service of Ukraine.
With this post, I want to support all conscious Odessans, our defenders, active public, who have worked and conducted an extremely complex advocacy campaign regarding the decolonization of toponyms in the city and region. I know that many streets now bear the names of real modern Ukrainian Heroes who gave their lives for Ukrainian Odessa. I want to support the team of the head of Odesa OVA and all OVAs who understand their duty and recognize the supremacy of the law in this difficult but historic time.
The process of decolonization is the destruction of firmly rooted, centuries-old myths about the friendship of peoples, brotherhood, peace, joint victory, and the great Russian culture. And this is also the road to studying one’s true history, accepting it, understanding it, and a worthy assessment.
Decolonization is a healing process. He who truly wants to live seeks real recovery.
That is why we in Lviv Oblast, together with communities, military personnel and veterans, dismantled all Soviet monuments by January 2024, the absolute majority of which glorified the occupying army. And similarly, by July 27, all toponyms known to us related to Russian-Soviet propaganda were renamed. Lviv region is not only the first region without Soviet monuments, we are also the first to rename all the streets with the false names “Peace” and “Victory” and “Friendship of Peoples” imposed by Moscow.
In order to complete the process finally, we must get rid of all the cells of the Moscow pseudo-church. And we hope that the VRU will also have the political will to ban this agency structure of the Kremlin at the legislative level.
Finally, I will say: whoever wants, he looks for opportunities, everyone else names reasons”, – said Kozytskyi’s message.
It will be recalled that the mayor of Odesa, Gennadiy Trukhanov, opposed the renaming of toponyms announced by the OVA of the Odesa region. He said that the city is being forced to “give up everything that made Odessa a world brand.”
Trukhanov launched an online vote on the renaming, but the votes were divided. Then he said that residents of other cities took part in the survey, who should not decide the fate of Odessa. Oleg Kiper, the head of the OVA, reacted to this, calling to look for streets with imperial names in Ufa.
