Yevstratii Zoria’s petition on Lavrska Street renaming not upheld by Kievites

The petition of the Archbishop of the Kiev Patriarchate Yevstratii Zoria, entitled "Return the name of Ivan Mazepa to the part of the street in the Pechersk district of Kiev, which runs from Square of Fame to Square of the Great Patriotic War Heroes," won less than one-tenth of the necessary votes. This is reported on the website of the Kiev City Council.

The deadline for submission of votes in support of the petition has expired. It collected 993 signatures of 10 thousand required.

"Today Mazepa Street is one of the shortest in the capital, which is unworthy of the role the hetman played in the history of Ukraine in general and in Kiev in particular. It is therefore proposed to restore historical justice, to cancel the above-mentioned decision of the KCC and return the name of Ivan Mazepa to the whole street," writes the author of the petition.

Yevstratii Zoria explains that " on July 8, 2010, the Kiev City Council at the V session of the VI convocation took the decision № 981/4419" On renaming the street in the Pechersk district of Kiev," according to which Ivan Mazepa Street was wrongly divided into two parts in the Pechersk district of Kiev – the actual Mazepa Street (from the Arsenal area Square of Fame) and the resulting Lavrska Street – from Square of Fame to Square of the Great Patriotic War Heroes." He believes that the decision of the Kiev mayor's office was made under the "influence" of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia "on the then leadership of Ukraine."