Bilhorod, not Belgorod: Ukraine will return Ukrainian names to foreign cities - Foreign Minister

"We will return the names of Ukrainian origin to foreign place names in national use. After all, in Ukraine, we say Berestia, not Brest. Bilhorod, not Belgorod. Dobrochyn, not Debretsen. The list goes on and on," the Minister writes.

Sybiha emphasizes that the use of Ukrainian is a sovereign national right of Ukraine, which also complies with current legislation. Moreover, it is defined by law.

According to the Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will be the institution that initiates the right steps to systematize the national use of names of Ukrainian origin for foreign place names.

Sybiha emphasizes that it is about the use of names in Ukraine. He adds: "We are not imposing anything on anyone."

"Other states and international organizations have their geographical commissions that compile the relevant registers. It is time to do the same in our country. We will soon initiate a professional discussion, a broad public debate, and interagency preparation of the necessary steps," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister announces.

Changing spelling of Ukrainian city names abroad

In addition to the above, Sybiha told the story of a country that appealed to Ukraine with the incorrect spelling of the name of the Ukrainian capital.

"Recently, a note from a foreign country was brought to my desk, in which it addressed us on some issue. I started reading the text until I came to the word Kyiv. I didn't read any further. I made an order: Return it without consideration and no longer accept it," the Minister says.

He emphasizes that the spelling of the names of Ukrainian cities should first be learned, and only then, renewed assurances of deep respect.

Sybiha adds that the same applies to other Ukrainian place names, which should correspond to the Ukrainian, not Russian, transliteration. In particular: Odesa, Lviv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and others.

He informs that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is systematically working to correct the incorrect spelling of Ukrainian place names around the world. In particular, we are talking about online resources, media, transportation, public places, government agencies, art, and other areas.

"And we have already made progress on this path. The world's largest media outlets, including AP, BBC, the Guardian, ARD, and many others, transport companies, including Air France and others, hundreds of airports around the world, governments - Germany and other countries - international organizations and others have already changed the rules for spelling Ukrainian cities to correct transliteration from the Ukrainian language," the post says.

Summarizing, Sybiha adds that both in the case of correcting the incorrect use of our cities' names by foreigners and in the case of switching to Ukrainian names of foreign place names, it is primarily about respect.

"More precisely, our self-respect as a state. Others will respect us only if we respect ourselves," the Foreign Minister wrote.

Renaming of settlements in Ukraine

In April 2024, it became known that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plans to rename over 300 settlements whose names contain symbols of Russian imperial policy or do not meet the standards of the state language.