Moscow-backed separatists in southeastern Ukraine have removed road signs bearing the name of the almost entirely conquered city of Mariupol in Ukrainian and English and replaced them with signs in Russian.
The Ministry of Transport of the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk said in a statement.
The ministry also shared photos of city workers dressed in orange vests carrying out the switch operation. “Work on road signs in liberated areas will continue,” the announcement reads. Similar work would have been carried out in small towns.
The strategically important port city of Mariupol is almost entirely in the hands of Russian troops. Only the Azovstal factory remains a Ukrainian seat of resistance. Ukraine says the steel plant has been stormed several times recently, but Moscow denies it, claiming it was only a siege.
