Lavrska Street loses its name as Kyiv honors Mazepa in derussification push

Cross Procession of the UOC in 2021 along Lavrska Street. Photo: UOJ

On December 4, 2025, Kyiv authorities renamed Lavrska Street to Ivan Mazepa Street, according to the website of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA). The announcement states that Lavrska Street was associated with the aggressor state and that the renaming was carried out within the framework of derussification.

“Derussification is not about replacing signs but about reclaiming our voice and our memory. For decades, Russia imposed foreign names to dilute our identity. We are dismantling colonial influence, removing the aggressor’s symbolic presence from the capital, and affirming our Ukrainian space of freedom. In the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian war, this work is part of our resistance. I thank Kyiv residents, experts, and all communities who supported these decisions. Together we are shaping an urban space that speaks with Ukrainian meaning and works for our Victory,” said Viktoria Mukha, head of the commission on culture, tourism, and public communications.

Lavrska Street was one of the shortest in Kyiv, about 2 km long. It was home to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, after which it was named in 2010. Meanwhile, Mazepa Street had previously existed; now it has simply been extended by incorporating the former Lavrska. Mazepa Street itself was created in 2007. During the Soviet period it was called January Uprising Street, and before the 1917 revolution it was known as St. Nicholas Street.

Earlier, members of the Kyiv administration called Lavrska Street “a disgraceful stain on the map of our city.” In February 2025, Tymish Martynenko-Kushlianskyi, a member of the Kyiv City Council’s naming commission, urged authorities to “wash away this shame and return the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to a street named after one of its greatest patrons.”

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