Did Prague name a square after the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy? No, that's not true: In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, residents of Prague adorned streets and squares with stickers to rename them, symbolically denouncing Russian aggression and expressing solidarity with Ukraine. No square received an official renaming.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) which was published on TikTok on March 12, 2024. It showed a picture of a street sign that read: "Volodymyr Zelenskyy Square" (translated from Czech into English by Lead Stories staff). The caption of the video read, as translated:
Praguers, I hope this is not true.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Mar 18 08:07:54 2024 UTC)
Another post circulating on Facebook (archived here) suggested that it was Betlemske namesti (square) in downtown Prague that was supposedly renamed after Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On March 8, 2022, Prazska Drbna, a news and blogging website focusing on Prague, reported that citizens of Prague modified street signs using stickers as a display of solidarity with Ukraine during the invasion (archived here). The article featured a photograph depicting a street sign reading "Volodymyr Zelenskyy Square," alongside others decorated with a Ukrainian flag or the renowned phrase uttered by Ukrainian soldiers in response to a Russian warning: "Russian warship go to hell" (archived here).
Here is how the images appeared in the article; one displayed a Ukrainian flag sticker affixed to a street sign called "Ruska" in Czech, which translates to "Russian" in English:
(Source: Prazska Drbna article screenshot taken on Mon Mar 18 08:07:54 2024 UTC)
During a phone conversation with Lead Stories on March 18, 2024, Prague magistrate spokesman Vit Hoffman confirmed that Prague's Betlemske Square had not been renamed after Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also added that it would be illegal to name a street or a square after a living person.
Further examples of gestures made by Czechs to express solidarity with Ukraine in the initial weeks following the Russian invasion in February 2022 can be found here (archived here).
