Hundreds of Streets in Russian Cities and Villages Being Renamed for Soldiers who Died Fighting in Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 23 – Hundreds of streets in Russian cities and villages are being renamed for soldiers who died fighting in Putin’s war in Ukraine, but while Moscow is playing up some of these changes in toponomy, it hasn’t compiled a list of heroes to be remembered in this way or published a list of how much renaming there has been, Aleksandr Leonidovich says.

            In most cases as far as can be determined, the initiative for such renaming comes from regional or local officials rather than from the Kremlin, even though Putin has twice called for such actions, the Novaya Gazeta journalist says (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/08/23/ulitsy-mertvykh-zakhvatchikov).

            Almost in every case, the man honored  was from the place where the street has been renamed, was between 20 and 40 years of age, was a professional soldier or was drafted, and was killed in the course of military operations, Leonidovich reports. Only rarely have men from the Wagnerites or other irregular forces been so honored.

            In one way, this pattern continues Soviet practice – many streets in the Russian Federation were named for such heroes from World War II. But there are two major differences, the journalist says. On the one hand, few of these re-namings took place so soon after the deaths of the soldiers involved. Most came only years later.

            And on the other, the ideological treatment of such Russian heroes now is very different from in the Soviet past. Then, the entire message was that such losses must be avoided in the future. Now, the message is that such losses while regrettable are necessary to defend Russia, a far more aggressive position.