The removal of Soviet symbols from Kyiv's Hero City monument in Halytska Square is nearly completed, the Kyiv City Administration reported on Sept. 15.
In late July, the national landmark saw the Soviet hammer and sickle that once adorned its shield replaced with the tryzub, the Ukrainian trident. The rejuvenated monument was officially unveiled on Aug. 24, Ukrainian Independence Day. The decision to remove the Soviet statue's symbols is a watershed moment in Kyiv's years-long de-communization program: a movement that has seen Ukraine purposely distance itself from old Soviet ties to reclaim and reassert its independent culture, identity, and future.
Workers installed Ukraine's national trident on an iconic monument depicting the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday, replacing old Soviet symbols in one of the most visible examples of breaking away from the past and Moscow's influence. Originally, the shield bore the Soviet Union's coat of arms - a crossed hammer and sickle surrounded by ears of wheat. The move has its roots in a movement to “decommunize” - or shed memories of the former Soviet Union - which Ukraine has stepped up since Russia's all-out invasion last year.
Workers on Tuesday lowered a hammer and sickle from a gigantic sculptural figure that watches over the Ukrainian capital, as part of a campaign to remove Soviet symbols which has ramped up since Moscow invaded last year.A survey commissioned by the culture ministry last year found 85 percent of Ukrainians backed removing the hammer and sickle, however.