Commenting on the council decision, deputy Roksolana Lemyk said,”We did not intend to target specifically Turgenev Street. We wanted to commemorate UPA heroes by naming in their honor a central street which is frequented by city residents and tourists,” she said.

We have repeatedly declared in the past that the renaming has nothing to do with Turgenev. Anyhow, the Russian writer’s relationship with Lviv is zero: he had never lived here or written about Lviv. Therefore, it made some sense to rename the street. However, the renaming is closely linked to the names of adjacent streets which all carry the names of UPA fighters, Chuprynka, Bandera, Konovalets,” the Lviv deputy argued.

Following the Lviv council decision, the Franko rayon administration on which territory the UPA Heroes Street is located will have to replace the street signs. It will cost a mere $1,000. But businesses will be inconvenienced the most as changing legal addresses is a lengthy procedure. They will have to handle it on their own,” the deputy added.