146 years to Volodymyr Vynnychenko, one of the parents of the Ukrainian People's Republic, whom they accuse of its greatest mistake

28 July, 146 years have passed since the birth of Volodymyr Vynnychenko — a writer, dramatist, artist, and one of the main architects of the Ukrainian People's Republic. This is the man whose signature stands under all the key Universal Decrees of the Central Rada, which headed the first Ukrainian government and ultimately became the head of the Directory. And at the same time — a man whose name today, during the greatest war for independence in Ukraine’s modern history, is partly erased from memory.

For in the spring of this year, the head of Lviv Oblast Military Administration (OVA), Maksym Kozytskyi, addressed the city council with a proposal to rename Vynnychenko Street in the historical center of the city — where the regional administration building is located. The argument was blunt, namely that Vynnychenko advocated for Ukraine’s autonomy within Russia rather than full independence, criticized leaders of the independence movement like Mykola Mikhnovsky, clashed with Symon Petliura precisely over independence, was against the creation of a separate Ukrainian army, and many other accusations. The Lviv City Council did not adopt a fully compromise solution — instead, in the spring 2026, the part of the street that runs directly adjacent to the OVA building was renamed to Andriy Parubiy Square, and the rest of the segment remains officially Vynnychenko Street to this day, notes the publication Espresso.

Such a symbolic split on a single street is a decent metaphor for the figure who some see as the father of Ukrainian statehood and one of the most prominent Ukrainian writers of the early 20th century, while others view him as a person who hindered state-building because of his socialist views.

So, who was Vynnychenko really: a statesman or an idealist who hindered his own state from coming into being? Let’s try to sort it out in order.