Ukraine works to dismantle Soviet monuments

Soviet monuments to the memory of the common history between Ukraine and Russia have been gradually dismantled over the past ten years. The movement has intensified since the start of the war.

As Russia commemorates, Thursday May 9, the end of the “Great Patriotic War”, During the Second World War, Ukraine, for its part, worked to dismantle Soviet monuments celebrating the common history between the two countries. A movement that began around ten years ago, but which has obviously intensified since the start of the large-scale war more than two years ago.

In a park in kyiv, at the top of a hill overlooking the Dnieper, stands majestically the Ark of the Freedom of the Ukrainian People. His name has changed. Before, it was the Arch of Friendship between Peoples. At its feet, a Soviet-era statue celebrating the union between Russians and Ukrainians is now reduced to a pile of rubble. It is being dismantled, heading to the museum. Valentina, 68, approves of the measure: “Why talk about friendship with Russia? They have always killed us throughout history. Since Ukraine existed, Russia has sought to destroy us.”

“Long live Ukraine!”

Sitting on the stairs, Dmitro, 21, believes that these changes should have gone much faster, since the invasion of Crimea in 2014: “It is better to forget our common history and better learn our history. The history of Ukraine and not that of the aggressor country.” Wearing a pink bow tie and matching cap, Misha, 64, came to take a photo with the dismantled Soviet monument in the background: “I have come to observe the dismantling because I am waiting for this monstrous thing to be dismantled. Long live Ukraine!”

Anton Dobrovych is the director of the National Institute of Ukrainian Memory. For him, this process of dismantling Soviet monuments will allow Ukrainians to see their history more clearly: “Ukrainians are not trying to eradicate the common past. Ukrainians are simply trying to tell the truth about what happened in the past, about crimes, repressions, victories and defeats, about relations between the Ukrainians and the Russians, in order to put things in their place. If the common past is a lie that has been imposed on us, then, forgive me, it should be thrown away. According to kyiv City Hall, the capital is at the final stage of “de-Russification” installations. Around a hundred monuments and 200 commemorative plaques must soon be removed from public spaces.