Pro-Moscow separatists were pictured this week taking down Ukrainian and English road signs outside the besieged city of Mariupol — and replacing them with Russian ones.
The Ministry of Transport of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) — a Russia-backed breakaway state in eastern Ukraine — said in a statement Thursday that it has been changing signage in “liberated cities” in the contested region, where some of the fiercest fighting is taking place.
The agency released photos of workers in orange vests taking down and carrying away a sign in Ukrainian and English that used to greet motorists entering the now-leveled city of Mariupol.
A photo that was shared separately on DNR’s Telegram channel showed a work crew installing a new road sign, with the name Mariupol written only in Russian.
“It used to be Маріуполь [Ukrainian spelling] – now it’s The Ukrainian and English signs are removed.
The separatist state’s transportation workers also have swapped road signs in the nearby towns and villages of Kremenyovka, Kasyanovka and Pervomayskoe, signaling a regime change.
“Work to change road signs across liberated territories will continue,” the Ministry of Transport stated.
Denis Pushilin, head of the DNR, wrote that locals wanted to see proof that “Russia has come back here.”
Also this week, Pushilin and a senior Russian official awarded medals “For the Liberation of Mariupol.”
“The liberation of this city is a joint victory for the armies of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian Federation,” Pushilin bragged on his social media page.
After more than 10 weeks of war, Mariupol is almost entirely under Russian control, with the sprawling Azovstal plant remaining the sole pocket of resistance.
Ukrainian forces have been defending the site for weeks and repelling Russian ground attacks under near-constant bombardment.
In recent days, nearly 500 civilians, among them women and children, who had been hiding at the steelworks facility have been evacuated to safety with the help of the UN, but the Ukrainian soldiers have stayed behind.
The wife of Azov Regiment commander Denys Prokopenko said her husband and his comrades will not lay down their arms and plan to “stand ’til the end.”