Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

New York, Ukraine: City close to Russian border watches prospect of invasion closely

Share
New York, Ukraine -

Welcome to New York.

No, not the land of soaring skyscrapers, bustling boroughs, and constant honking of taxis, but the city in Eastern Ukraine, about an hour-and-a-half away from the Russian border.

The city was named New York in the 1890s by German Mennonite settlers. The wife of one of the settlers had American roots.

Six decades later, the Soviets renamed it Novgorodskoye.

But after a successful push last summer, Ukrainians reclaimed the original name, allowing them to distance themselves from their Soviet past.

The idea was Nadiya Gordiyuk's.

Near an ‘I love New York’ installation, she explains to me the importance of the campaign and the name change.

"The name New York is part of Ukraine's European history," she says. “We return to historical justice."

But historical clouds and symbols persist.

At a nearby park is a crumbling row of statues depicting Russian literary greats. There are decaying Stalinist-era buildings. A chemical plant was once named after the founder of the KGB.

Crumbling statues of Russian literary greats stand in a park in New York, Ukraine, in this image from Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. (Omar Sachedina / Â鶹´«Ã½)

And a few kilometres away is an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists who broke away from Ukraine in 2014. More than 13,000 people have been killed in clashes -- more than New York's entire population, which hovers around 10,000.

What's in it for Moscow? It allows the Kremlin to extend its sphere of influence, and destabilize Ukraine.

And now, with a military build-up along the border, there is a new threat New Yorkers have to deal with: invasion.

"It's horrible," says Kristina Shevenko. The 28-year-old teacher was also part of the modern-day push to reclaim New York's name.

"[But] we cannot afford to be scared," she says defiantly.

The name has changed, but the concerns have not.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

An Edmonton man says he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was injured by members of the Edmonton Police Service last year.

The brother of a 27-year-old man who was fatally shot in Scarborough over the weekend has been arrested and charged in connection with his death, say police.

The Royal Canadian Mint has introduced its latest Gold Maple Leaf bullion coin – made entirely from gold sourced from a single mine in northern Ontario

Local Spotlight

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.