There have been calls for Kensington Palace Gardens to be renamed after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine.
Kensington Palace Gardens are just around the corner from the Russian embassy, and the calls to rename them Zelensky Avenue have been backed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
This comes after Lithuania changed the location of their Russian embassy to “Ukrainian Heroes’ Street” in their capital of Vilnius, while Albania named their street in Tirana “Free Ukraine Street”, and Latvia is naming theirs “Independent Ukraine Street”.
Although he offered his full backing on the idea, Khan reinforced that the priority was for people to keep donating vital supplies to Ukraine.
He said: “I support the initiative in relation to showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
“However, the three things that people in Ukraine need are urgent medical supplies, urgent accessible food and defensive weapons.”
Layla Moran MP, the Lib Dem’s foreign affairs spokesperson, praised the idea.
She said: “Britain must shame Putin at every possible opportunity. Everyone visiting or writing to the embassy should be reminded of Putin’s murderous and destructive invasion of Ukraine.
“This small but meaningful gesture would match the outpouring of support from Londoners.“
The Russian embassy, which is a six-minute walk from the road, dismissed any suggestions of a name change and instead posted a tweet of an image of Ai-Petri Mountain which lies at the peak of the Crimean mountains..
Ai-Petri is 1234 meters high, located in the Yalta region of Crimea and has been subject to a heated debate based on it’s location because it sits directly between Russia and Ukraine.
A Kensington & Chelsea spokesperson said: “We share the world’s anger at Putin’s assault on Ukraine and are horrified at the plight of the men, women and children caught up in the conflict.
“Kensington and Chelsea already share a special bond with the people of Ukraine, with the country’s rich culture and history represented on our streets through the likes of the Ukrainian Social Club and Statue of Saint Volodymyr on Holland Park Avenue.”
Featured image credit: Krokodyl, CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, via Wikimedia Commons
