That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, March 2. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Vox Pop -- Bandera Avenue Or Moscow Avenue? What do ordinary Ukrainians make of proposals to rename Kyiv's Moscow Avenue after the controversial World War II nationalist leader Stepan Bandera? (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Kyiv Could Rename 'Moscow Avenue' After Nationalist Bandera
Kyiv is considering stripping a major thoroughfare of the name Moskovsky Prospekt, or Moscow Avenue, and renaming it after late Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera -- a move that would be certain to anger Russia.
The possible change is part of a push to rid Ukraine of Soviet-era symbols under “decommunization” laws that were passed last year after ties with Russia were torn apart by Moscow’s seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in the east.
The Kyiv City Hall commission that deals with name changes has approved the proposal, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, the director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR), said on his Facebook page on March 2. He said the UINR had made the proposal.
Vyatrovych said a day earlier that the commission has asked Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko to put the proposal to public debate in the capital. Such a debate, if Klitschko decides to initiate it, could take up to two months.
Read more by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service here.
A little over a year after the Minsk II accord was signed in February 2015, it is all too apparent that the agreement aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine is not working. Nevertheless, Western governments, the EU, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe keep reiterating that Minsk needs to be fulfilled.