25 August 2025

More Toponym Changes in Ukraine

A few more toponym changes in Ukraine were released in June 2025. This is a part of Ukraine’s ongoing de-communization, de-russification and standardization of state language of place names in the country. Because this project is a living document, changes are made to match place name changes made by Ukraine. 

Of the 200+ updates this time around, there were 11 changes that were related to the current names of former German colonies. Of those, five have been returned to their historical German names. Makes me smile when that happens. It’s humbling knowing that a country at war is still finding time to look out for the diverse historical heritages within its modern borders and restoring the names of those places when possible.

The places that have their German names returned are noted by an asterisk (*) below. 
Not all of new names have made it onto the online maps yet (Google, OpenStreet, Bing, etc.), but in time they will.

These are all located in the former South Russia region, southern and eastern Ukraine today. 

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Izluchistoye (Jewish Agricultural enclave)

Donetsk Oblast
*Bergtal (Bergtal Colony)
*Neu-Jamburg (Mariupol enclave)
Steinbach (Mariupol enclave)

Kherson Oblast
Muraveinyk (Taurida)

Odesa Oblast
Eigenfeld (Bessarabia)
Hoffnungsfeld (Bessarabia)
Reulingen (Bessarabia)

Zaporizhzhia Oblast
*Hochfeld (Ekaterinoslav)
*Huttertal (Hutterite Colony)
*Reichenfeld (Prischib enclave)


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