Mr. Liptuga said the City Council had done its part under the decolonization law, renaming 230 streets honoring Soviet generals and Catherine the Great, the Russian empress who founded Odesa in 1794.

The Vatican says Pope Francis' praise of Russia’s imperial past was not intended to give any backing to Moscow's modern-day aggression in Ukraine.

The Russian leader traveled to the city of Harbin Friday, a six-hour drive south of the Russian border, a day after receiving a warm welcome in Beijing from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.