Ukraine pushes for foreign cities to be called by Ukrainian names in official use

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has announced that the state intends to actively introduce Ukrainian names for foreign toponyms into official use.

Source: Sybiha on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sybiha recounted that he recently received a note from a foreign country addressing Ukraine on a specific issue. "I started reading until I got to the word ‘Kiev’. I didn’t read any further. I gave the following instruction: ‘Return this without consideration and accept no further communications.’ Study the spelling of the names of Ukrainian cities first, and only then ‘renew the assurance of your deep respect’," he said.

The minister stressed that the names of Ukrainian cities should follow Ukrainian transliteration: Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Chornobyl.

Sybiha noted that Ukraine has made significant strides in promoting the correct spelling of its place names globally, with leading international media, governments and organisations contributing to this effort.

He added that the next major step is to go back to using traditional Ukrainian names for foreign cities: Berestia instead of Brest, Bilhorod instead of Belgorod, Dobrochyn instead of Debrecen and so on.

Sybiha noted that this right is enshrined in the law on the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to start professional, public and interdepartmental discussions in order to systematise the use of Ukrainian names for foreign toponyms.

Quote from Sybiha: "As with correcting the incorrect use of the names of our cities by foreigners, so in the case of switching to Ukrainian names for foreign toponyms, this is primarily about respect. More precisely, our self-respect as a state. Others will only respect us if we respect ourselves."

Background: 

• The spelling "Kiew", which stems from the Russian name, has become generally accepted in German, although Duden, the authoritative German language handbook, adopted the transliteration from Ukrainian, Kyjiw, in 2019. 
• In 2018, Ukraine launched the #KyivNotKiev campaign in the English-speaking world, leading nearly all major English-language media outlets to adopt the correct spelling. 
• In February 2024, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was switching from "Kiew" to "Kyjiw".

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