(Reuters) – The U.S. Embassy Moscow stated on Friday it was offended but not surprised by a suggestion to name a local intersection “Defenders Square”. This suggested that the proposal was meant to honor Ukrainian soldiers who were fighting Russian aggression.

Moscow City Assembly stated Wednesday that they were considering naming this intersection after the soldiers fighting to stop alleged Nazism in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas.

Russia claimed that the reason why it sent its army into Ukraine on Feb. 24, was to protect Russian-speakers against “fascist”, or “Nazi” persecutions.

The West and Kyiv both claim that the accusation of fascism was a pretext to an unprovoked attack on Ukraine. In fact, the United States led Western allies in providing support for Ukraine using money, heavy weaponry and sanctions against Russia.

The embassy stated that they were surprised but not offended at the Russian government’s suggestion to rename an area of Moscow’s downtown near the U.S. Embassy “Defenders of Donbas Square”, presumably in honor of Ukrainian soldiers who bravely protected their homeland against Kremlin aggression. “A country must know its heroes.”