{
  "place_id": "debaltseve#7685_12134",
  "wikidata": "Q2371760",
  "country": "UA",
  "local_name": "Дебальцеве",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Debaltseve",
      "why": "Current Ukrainian name in the national romanization adopted in 2010, followed by BGN/PCGN since 2019; selected as the English main form.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Debaltsevo",
          "why": "Russian-based spelling common in English accounts of the 2015 battle."
        },
        {
          "name": "Debal’tseve",
          "why": "Ukrainian-based transliteration retaining the medial soft sign. BGN/PCGN 1965 Ukrainian romanization; a historical standard superseded by adoption of the Ukrainian national system in 2019. Supplied as a systematic search form."
        },
        {
          "name": "Debal'tseve",
          "why": "Plain-apostrophe form of the soft-sign-marked spelling."
        },
        {
          "name": "Debalʹceve",
          "why": "ISO 9:1995 transliteration of the Ukrainian spelling, supplied as a systematic bibliographic search form. This does not establish ordinary English usage."
        },
        {
          "name": "Дебальцеве",
          "why": "Ukrainian original-script name, useful in quotations and bilingual indexes; not a romanized English name."
        },
        {
          "name": "Debalʹt͡seve",
          "why": "ALA-LC 2011 Ukrainian romanization; a systematic library-catalogue search form with the prescribed ties and soft-sign marks, not a separate English exonym."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Debaltseve",
      "why": "Same spelling as in English; used in French reference writing. Le Monde also used Debaltsevo in its 2015 reporting.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Debaltsevo",
          "why": "Russian-based name used by Le Monde in its 2015 coverage of the battle."
        },
        {
          "name": "Debaltsevé",
          "why": "French phonetic adaptation with final é, found in geographical transcription."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Debaltseve is a city in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. It grew around a railway junction and became the focus of a major battle during the war in the Donbas.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "French reference: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debaltseve ; contemporary press alternative: https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2015/02/19/comment-kiev-a-perdu-debaltsevo_4579537_3214.html . Romanization references: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/correctua ; https://arhiiv.eki.ee/wgrs/v3_0/rom2_uk.htm ; https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/ukrainia.pdf .",
  "rank": 416,
  "slug": "debaltseve"
}