In
Ukraine, monuments to Lenin and other
Soviet-era monuments have been made illegal by
Ukrainian decommunization laws that came into force on 21 May 2015.[1] This law mandated the monuments to be removed within a six months period that started on 15 May 2015.[2]
Since
Ukrainian independence (in 1991) communist monuments were already being removed[3] and until 2014 new monuments were also erected.[4] In the aftermath of the 2013–2014
Euromaidan protests many of them were recently toppled. On 15 May 2015,
President of UkrainePetro Poroshenko signed the bill into law that started a six months period for the removal of the communist monuments.[2]
During the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, many of these communist statues, which had been taken down by Ukrainian activists, were
re-erected by Russian occupiers in Russian-controlled areas.[5][6][7][8]
On 6 October 2009, addressing participants of the Second Ecumenical Week held in
Ukrainian Catholic University, then
First LadyKateryna Yushchenko called on all
Ukrainians to pull down monuments to the Communist past. According to her, the
Communist regime had been consistently active in destroying the
Ukrainian church. "Having destroyed age-long belief in Christ, the Communists proposed their own idols instead; the culture and
faith of Ukrainians was deformed and are in need of renovation", according to Kateryna Yushchenko.[9]
Pulling down of monuments
The removal or destruction of Lenin monuments and statues gained particular momentum during the
Euromaidan movement in the beginning of 2014. Under the motto "Ленінопад" (Leninopad, translated into English as "Leninfall"), activists pulled down a dozen monuments in the Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and elsewhere, or damaged them.[10] In other cities and towns, monuments were removed by organised heavy equipment and transported to scrapyards or dumps.[11]
By February 25, 2014, an estimate ran of over 90 statues and monuments being pulled down, removed or relocated.[12][13] Since February 2014 and mid-April 2015, more than 500 statues of Lenin were dismantled in Ukraine, and nearly 1,700 were still standing.[citation needed]
Pulled down:
Kyiv: a statue of Lenin stood in front of
Bessarabskyi Market. It had been erected in 1946. On June 30, 2009, the nose of the statue and part of the left hand were destroyed.[14][15][16] The statue was restored (at the expense of the Communist Party of Ukraine)[17] and re-unveiled on November 27, 2009, by
Petro Symonenko, leader of the
Communist Party of Ukraine. During this ceremony two representatives of
Svoboda threw a bottle of red paint at the monument,[18][19] who were then attacked by attending Communists.[17] The
fall of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv took place on December 8, 2013.[20][21]
Andriievo-Ivanove (Odesa Oblast): Lenin statue was broken in half on January 4, 2014.[22]
Zhytomyr and
Boiarka: Lenin statues were toppled by protesters on February 20, 2014.[23]
Khmelnytskyi: Lenin statue was mounted from 1970 to 1992. It was designed by E. Kuntsevych, architects — O. Ihnashchenko, Ye. Perekrest. It has been relocated to the park of Culture and Recreation. On February 21, 2014, it was destroyed.[24]
tens of other locations
Removed:
Kyiv - on 26 August 1991 the
executive committee of Kyiv voted to remove all the monuments of "Communist heroes" from public places, including the Lenin monument on the central
October Revolution Square (now named
Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)).[25]
Lviv, the Lenin statue was mounted from 1952 to 1990. It was designed by
Sergey Merkurov, architect — I.O.Frantsuz.
Dnipro, 2 Lenin monuments were removed by the city in 2014; in March 2014 the city's Lenin Square was renamed "Heroes of Independence Square" in honor of the
people killed during
Euromaidan.[26][27] The statue of Lenin on the square was removed.[27][28] In June 2014 another Lenin monument was removed (parts of the monument were moved to a local history museum) and replaced by a monument for the
Ukrainian military fighting against
armed insurgents in theDonbas (region of Ukraine)[29][30]
Odesa, the Lenin statue was mounted in 1967 to 2006. It was designed by
Matvey Manizer, О.М.Manizer, architects — I.Ye.Rozin, Yu.S.Lapin, М.М.Volkov. It was relocated to the park of Lenin's Komsomol.
Sumy, the Lenin statue was mounted from 1982 to the early 2000s. It was designed by E.Kuntsevych, architects — O.Zavarov, I.Lanko. It has been relocated to the park at the city limits.
In 1991 Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments.[35] By December 2015, 1,300 Lenin monuments were still standing.[35] On 16 January 2017 the
Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization.[36]