KYIV — City staff in Kyiv on Saturday dismantled an equestrian statue of a Red Army commander, the newest Soviet monument to be eliminated in the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion final yr.
The statue of Mykola Shchors on horseback, erected within the Nineteen Fifties, was taken down from a pedestal in downtown Kyiv to the applause of a small group of onlookers. City officers mentioned will probably be saved within the State Aviation Museum.
“Derussification and decommunization are continuing. We have already dismantled more than 60 monuments related to the history and culture of Russia and the Soviet Union,” Mykhailo Budilov, director of town’s Department of Territorial Control, mentioned in an announcement.
An effort to take away symbols of the Soviet period, which many Ukrainians equate with Russian imperialism, accelerated after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In August of this yr, officers eliminated a hammer-and-sickle image from the Mother Ukraine statue in Kyiv – one of many nation’s most recognizable landmarks – and changed it with Ukraine’s trident coat of arms.
On Saturday, just a few dozen folks gathered across the Shchors monument as staff reduce the statue from the pedestal and eliminated it with a crane.
PHOTOS: A Soviet-era statue of a Red Army commander taken down in Kyiv
“Once I heard this was happening, I put my coat on and ran here to see a historic moment,” mentioned Heorhii Lukianchuk, a Kyiv resident.
Oleksii Prokopets, one other Kyiv resident, mentioned he supported taking down Soviet monuments however questioned whether or not it was definitely worth the assets as Ukraine finds itself struggling to struggle off the Russian invasion virtually two years into the warfare.
“I guess it is not the right time to spend a lot of money for taking them down. It could be just wrapped in a black cloth and dealt with after the victory,” Prokopets mentioned.
It’s not but clear what the monument shall be changed with.
