Kharkiv mayor declares day of mourning, proposes renaming Pushkinska Street following Russian missile attacks

January 25 will be a day of mourning for the victims of Russia's mass missile attacks against Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced via Telegram. He also proposed renaming the city's Pushkinska Street in the wake of the Russian attack.

Russian forces launched a mass missile strike against Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Pavlohrad on Jan. 23. The attack killed 10 Kharkiv residents, including a child. At least 60 residents were injured.

Terekhov called the Jan. 23 attacks "one of the largest tragedies in Kharkiv in terms of casualties during the entire period of full-scale war." He offered condolences to the families of the victims and said that the city would observe a day of mourning on Thursday, Jan. 25.

He also proposed renaming the city's Pushkinska Street, named for Russian writer Alexander Pushkin.

"Until yesterday, I was in no hurry to change the name of Pushkinska Street. I, like many Kharkiv residents, have always felt that Pushkin is not about modern Russia, not about the reality that the Putin regime is trying to impose, using the greatness of historical figures for its own benefit," Terekhov said.

"But after the enemy struck horrific blows against our city, taking the lives of innocents and turning houses into ruins, we see the real price of such decisions."

Terekhov proposed naming the street after the 18th-century Ukrainian philosopher and composer Hryhorii Skovoroda.

Skovoroda's "philosophy of life and freedom was fundamentally opposed to imperial ambitions," Terekhov said.

Kharkiv authorities removed a statue of Pushkin from the city's Poetry Square in November 2022.

Monuments to Pushkin have been dismantled in multiple cities throughout Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. Kyiv city authorities removed a Pushkin statue in November 2023. Pushkin monuments have also been taken down in Zhytomyr, Ternopil, and Mykolaiv.

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