As of Monday, the 28th of March, the citizens of North Macedonia have the opportunity to sign the petition named “Ukraine Street” to plea Skopje City Hall to rename Pirin Street, the Embassy of the Russian Federation is located on – to Ukraine Street, announced the Embassy of Ukraine to North Macedonia.
“This would be a symbolic act of support of the Ukrainian nation which is defending its independence in the war that was started by Russia,” stressed the Embassy of Ukraine.
The “Ukraine Street” campaign is summoning the whole world to make Ukraine part of its capitals and is considering this initiative as a very powerful way of responding to Vladimir Putin and Russia’s efforts to efficiently destroy Ukraine and its culture.
“Living away from Ukraine, it is sometimes hard to know how to support the people under attack. However, there is one thing that could be done, and that is to support the campaign for renaming Pirin Street into Ukraine Street,” says the petition.
Several countries in North Macedonia’s neighborhood and throughout the world have already joined the global coalition. Albania renamed the part of the street where the Russian Embassy is located into Ukrainian Heroes Street, Latvia renamed a street into Independent Ukraine Street, and Norway will change the name of the square in front of the Russian Embassy into Ukraine Square.
Last week, Toronto joined its European partners by revealing the signs “Free Ukraine” across the Saint Claire Avenue, where the front of the Russian Embassy is located. This area will now bе called “Free Ukraine Square” on an honorary basis. In the meantime, the people of Athens, Washington and Lisbon have also addressed their local councils with the idea to rename some of the locations.
“The people around the world are watching the horror in Ukraine and sometimes, understandably, are feeling powerless to help. But, with a petition for changing the name of the street, all of us can provide a very symbolic statement for the Russian bureaucracy around the world. With this act, the people will show their support for Ukraine and its 40 million people who are now fighting for their freedom against the Russian aggression, including those 10 million who had to abandon their homes because of the war. Think what sort of signal this would be for the diplomats and FSB agents that will have to walk across the Ukraine Street to their work post – a great daily reminder of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” said Dmitro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
The campaign’s web-page https://www.uastreet.world/ has links to petitions for remaining the streets where Russian embassies and consulates are located in 57 cities in 38 countries throughout the world and among them is North Macedonia.
The Ukraine Street campaign was created by the One Philosophy consulting group as part of the “We Are Ukraine” platform.
