Kyiv is changing the monument to "Mother Motherland". The Soviet symbol will be replaced with a Ukrainian trident

The monumental monument, one of the symbols of Kyiv, “Mother Motherland” will undergo a major overhaul until August 24. The Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko announced on Thursday that the Soviet coat of arms on the shield would be replaced with a Ukrainian trident. This is not the only post-Soviet souvenir that will be removed from the Ukrainian capital in the coming days.

The Mother Motherland monument was erected in 1981. It is located on the territory of the National Museum of World War II in Kyiv. The monumental statue is an example of Soviet gigantomania. It is 102 meters high and weighs 450 tons.

After gaining independence in 1991, it was decided that the monument should become a symbol of the new Ukraine. “Mother Homeland” began to be decorated with traditional poppy bouquets, and illuminated in yellow and blue at night. However, the Soviet coat of arms on the shield remained a problem.

Last year, a survey was conducted among Ukrainians, which showed that 85 percent of society wants to change the Soviet symbol to the Ukrainian trident. On July 13, 2023, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, announced that this will take place before this year's Independence Day of Ukraine. As reported by Euromaidanpress, the change is expected to cost $765,000.

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“This is a truly symbolic historical moment, it is a kind of announcement of a project that should be implemented in the near future, by August 24. This is the replacement of the Soviet coat of arms on the "Homeland" with a trident,” Tkachenko said.

The Soviet coat of arms will replace the Ukrainian trident. Kyiv derussification

However, these are not the only improvements in the capital. In Kyiv, 14 more municipal objects were renamed. The deputy mayor, secretary of the Kyiv City Council, Volodymyr Bondarenko, stated that the de-Russification process was underway in the city.

“Russia has been imposing its narratives for decades, which distort our national consciousness. Currently, together with the inhabitants of the capital, we are carrying out a complex process of de-Russification of the capital. In the centuries-old Kyiv, there should be no names associated with the aggressor country, its Soviet and imperial past,” Bondarenko emphasised.