Ukrainians rename Odesa road as Boris Johnson Street. Residents heap praise on PM for his stance on Russia’s invasion

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  1. Verges planted with tulips, fences and flowerbeds, well-kept dogs dozing on driveways: it looked like a perfect weekend morning in Middle England.

    An old man tinkered with the car in his garage. A lady in late middle age and a sensible coat cycled back from visiting her brother. But while Middle England may have become disillusioned with the prime minister, the same cannot be said here on Boris Johnson Street, a tree-lined lane by the sea in the town of Fontanka, outside Odesa, southern Ukraine.

    “He is the absolute bomb,” said Raisa Stayanova, making explosive gestures with her hands. She confessed that she had never heard of Johnson before the Russian invasion in February but said she was now his biggest fan. “I don’t really follow politics,” she said. “But he is my favourite person in the whole world.”

    Admittedly, by the time she told me this on Saturday morning, she and I were on our fourth glass of her husband Vasily Stayanov’s home-brewed red wine — “Merlot grape, very good”. Consumption had been a condition of the interview.

    But the Stayanovs’ hospitality, on top of their new love for Britain, only added to the home-from-home charm of what until last week was Mayakovsky Street. That was when Fontanka town council decided to rename it in honour of someone who, for all his troubles in Westminster, is by some distance the most popular international figure in Ukraine.

    “The prime minister of the United Kingdom is one of the most principled opponents of the Russian invasion, a leader in sanctions on Russia and defence support for Ukraine,” the council said.

    For many Ukrainians, Johnson led the way both in warning of the Russian invasion and then sending weapons to defend against it. The NLAW anti-tank weapon supplied by Britain has become a symbol of the damage inflicted on all those Russian columns that are now smoking wrecks thanks to its ease of use.

    In Fontanka the change of identity came as a surprise to some residents, when they were informed of it by The Times. Places like this, a dormitory town and Black Sea resort of 6,000 people on Odesa’s eastern outskirts, do not sully their appearance with street signs. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Galina Radachenko, 50, who works near by at Odesa’s port.

    For those in the know, the decision seems popular. While dropping the name of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Stalin’s favourite revolutionary poet, is strong evidence of Ukraine’s changing attitudes towards Russia, an even better example might be the Stayanovs, whose bungalow is situated halfway along the street.

    They were once a perfect Soviet couple. Vasily, 70, is Ukrainian, and served in the Soviet military as a sailor, then a Spetsnaz diver and finally as a parachutist.

    Raisa, who when asked gave her age as “Go f*** yourself, Russian warship”, adopted a dramatic stage whisper as she admitted she was actually Russian herself, born and raised near Moscow.

    She studied in Moldova before becoming a teacher in Odesa. She met her husband when they were both instructors at a summer camp for Young Pioneers.

    All that Soviet education has withered in the face of President Putin’s war. Now they are baffled at what has happened to their former “brothers” and, in Raisa’s case, actual sister, who still lives near Moscow.

    Her joie de vivre broke only once, when she cried at the thought of the arguments they have had. “She accuses me of being a fascist. Do you see any fascists here?” she said.

    The Stayanovs were unaware of Johnson’s domestic political problems, but they were always likely to be forgiving of “partygate” as they served up home-cured ham with black bread and poured glass after glass of wine, one each for toasts to “love”, “peace” and “Ukraine” and more for luck.

    The details of Carrie Johnson’s birthday cake “ambush” were explained to them slowly, and when they understood the full extent of the scandal, they said they did not much care.

    “Niet, niet,” Raisa said. “I don’t know about this birthday party. That seems to be normal human behaviour.

    “But he was the first man who stood with us and helped us in our struggle. He is the best, I tell you, the best, the best, the best.”

    Fontanka is “de-Russifying” several of its street names, as many Ukrainian towns say they will — an ironic result of an invasion intended to assert Russian history and identity.

    The decision is hard on Mayakovsky, who became disillusioned with the realities of Communist rule, and ended up committing suicide. He was part Ukrainian, and in his 1926 poem Debt to Ukraine wrote the prophetic words: “It is hard to crush people into one”.

    His fate may also serve as a warning that all political flames eventually burn out. As Mrs Radachenko up the road said, they have already renamed Stalin Street. It used to be round the corner.

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