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By Jamey Keaten

The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine 鈥� On the streets of Kyiv, Fyodor Dostoevsky is on the way out. Andy Warhol is on the way in.

Ukraine is accelerating efforts to erase the vestiges of Soviet and Russian influence from its public spaces by pulling down monuments and renaming hundreds of streets to honor its own artists, poets, soldiers, independence leaders and others 鈥� including heroes of the ongoing war.

Following Moscow鈥檚 invasion on Feb. 24 that has killed or injured untold numbers of civilians and soldiers as well as pummeled buildings and infrastructure, Ukraine鈥檚 leaders have shifted a campaign that once focused on dismantling its Communist past into one of 鈥渄e-Russification.鈥�

Streets that honored revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin or the Bolshevik Revolution were largely already gone; now Russia, not Soviet legacy, is the enemy.

It鈥檚 part punishment for crimes meted out by Russia, and part affirmation of a national identity by honoring Ukrainian notables who have been mostly overlooked.

Russia, through the Soviet Union, is seen by many in Ukraine as having stamped its domination of its smaller southwestern neighbor for generations, consigning its artists, poets and military heroes to relative obscurity, compared with more famous Russians.

If victors write history, as some say, Ukrainians are doing some rewriting of their own 鈥� even as their fate hangs in the balance. Their national identity is having what may be an unprecedented surge, in ways large and small.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken to wearing a black T-shirt that says: 鈥淚鈥檓 Ukrainian.鈥�

He is among the many Ukrainians who were born speaking Russian as a first language. Now, they shun it 鈥� or at least limit their use of it. Russian has traditionally been spoken more in the eastern and southern parts of the country. Western Ukraine, farther away from Russia, was quicker to shed Russian and Soviet imagery.

Other parts of the country are now catching up. The eastern city of Dnipro last week pulled down a bust of Alexander Pushkin 鈥� like Dostoevsky, a giant of 19th century Russian literature. A strap from a crane was unceremoniously looped under the statue鈥檚 chin.

This month, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced about 30 more streets in the capital will be rechristened.

Volodymyr Prokopiv, deputy head of the Kyiv City Council, said Ukraine鈥檚 鈥渄e-Communization鈥� policy since 2015 had been applied in a 鈥渟oft鈥� way so as not to offend sensitivities among the country鈥檚 Russian-speaking and even pro-Moscow population.

鈥淲ith the war, everything changed; now the Russian lobby is now powerless 鈥� in fact, it doesn鈥檛 exist,鈥� Prokopiv said in an interview with The Associated Press in his office overlooking Khreschatik Street, the capital鈥檚 main thoroughfare. 鈥淩enaming these streets is like erasing the propaganda that the Soviet Union imposed on Ukraine.鈥�

During the war, the Russians have also sought to stamp their culture and domination in areas they have occupied.

Andrew Wilson, a professor at University College London, cautioned about 鈥渢he dangers in rewriting the periods in history where Ukrainians and Russians did cooperate and build things together: I think the whole point about de-imperializing Russian culture should be to specify where we have previously been blind 鈥� often in the West.鈥�

The Ukrainians 鈥渁re taking a pretty broad-brush approach,鈥� he noted.

Wilson, whose book 鈥淭he Ukrainians鈥� recently saw its fifth edition published, cited Pushkin, who might understandably rankle some Ukrainians. To them, for example, the Cossacks 鈥� a Slavic people in eastern Europe 鈥� 鈥渕ean freedom, whereas Pushkin depicts them as cruel, barbarous, antiquated, and in need of Russian civilization,鈥� he said.

In Kyiv鈥檚 program, the city conducted an online survey, and received 280,000 suggestions in a single day, Prokopiv said. Then, an expert group sifted through the responses, and municipal officials and street residents gave a final stamp of approval.

Under the 鈥渄e-Communization鈥� program, about 200 streets were renamed in Kyiv before this year. In 2022 alone, that same number of streets have been renamed and another 100 are scheduled to get renamed soon, Prokopiv said.

A street named for philosopher Friedrich Engels will honor Ukrainian avant-garde poet Bohdan-Ihor Antonych. A boulevard whose name translates as 鈥淔riendship of Peoples鈥� 鈥� an allusion to the diverse ethnicities under the USSR 鈥� will honor Mykola Mikhnovsky, an early proponent of Ukrainian independence.

Another street recognizes the 鈥淗eroes of Mariupol鈥� 鈥� fighters who held out for months against a devastating Russian campaign in that Sea of Azov port city that eventually fell. A street named for the Russian city of Volgograd is now called Roman Ratushnyi Street in honor of a 24-year-old civic and environmental activist聽who was killed in the war.

A small street in northern Kyiv still bears Dostoevsky鈥檚 name but soon will be renamed for Warhol, the late Pop Art visionary from the United States whose parents had family roots in Slovakia, across Ukraine鈥檚 western border.

Valeriy Sholomitsky, who has lived on Dostoevsky Street for nearly 40 years, said he could go either way.

鈥淲e have under 20 houses here; that鈥檚 very few,鈥� Sholomitsky said as he shoveled snow off the street in front of a fading address sign bearing the name of the Russian writer. He said Warhol was 鈥渙ur artist鈥� 鈥� with heritage in eastern Europe.

Now, 鈥渋t will be even better,鈥� he said.

鈥淢aybe it is right that we are changing many streets now, because we used to name them incorrectly,鈥� he added.

Editor鈥檚 note: Vasilisa Stepanenko and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv contributed to this report.