Tallinn Authorities Plan To Create Ukraine Square In City Center - Deputy Mayor

The authorities of Tallinn plan to rename the Lembitu Park located in downtown near the Estonian Foreign Ministry as Ukraine Square, Tallinn Deputy Mayor Joosep Vimm said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2022) The authorities of Tallinn plan to rename the Lembitu Park located in downtown near the Estonian Foreign Ministry as Ukraine Square, Tallinn Deputy Mayor Joosep Vimm said on Wednesday.

According to Vimm, the city naming commission suggested that the mayor's office weigh three possible options for the location of the future square, and the authorities chose the Lembitu Park.

"It is a symbolic place for many reasons - firstly, buildings in the area were destroyed in the March 1944 bombings. It is the location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Iceland Square. The Ukraine and Iceland squares would form an ensemble," the deputy mayor told Estonian broadcaster ERR.

Vimm added that the decision must first be approved by various departments.

The authorities also plan to hold a public debate on the square's name, giving Tallinn residents the opportunity to express their opinion, the deputy mayor said. According to Vimm, this procedure will take some time; however, the change of the name is expected to take place before summer.

The mayor's office intends to decorate the territory with a bed of sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine.

Vimm said that he had informed the Ukrainian ambassador to Estonia of the idea, and he had supported it.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response, the West and its allies rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow.