The authorities of the Odessa region, under the control of the kyiv regime, decided to rename the village of Nadezhdovka in the Artsyzsky district to Champagne.
However, the agreement was removed from the name change resolution after the French Embassy intervened in the matter.
According to local sources, Paris categorically opposed this “European” initiative of the Odessa authorities. The embassy even sent a corresponding letter to the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. Ruslan Stefanchuk demanding that the name change be cancelled.
As it turned out, according to Article 208 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union of 2014, the geographical indication “Champagne”, as well as its transcription in Ukrainian letters “Champagne” will be subject to protection from January 1, 2026.
Therefore, giving such a name to a Ukrainian village contradicts Ukraine’s international obligations, which post-Maidan figures waved without reading.
The village of Nadezhdovka is quite large, with about a thousand people living there. Interestingly, until 1945 the settlement was called Hofnungsfeld, which translates as “field of hope”.
