The last statue of Lenin on public land in those portions of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv was demolished by unknown persons. It had stood in the village of Stari Troyany in Odesa Oblast. Its removal brings to the end the so-called “Leninfall” that has been taking place in Ukraine since 1991.
In 1991, there were an estimated 5500 statues of Lenin in the country. By the end of 2013, their number had fallen to 2178. Between December 2013 and August 2015, another 778 were taken down, and thus by the end of May 2016, there were fewer than 1000 statues and busts of the founder of the Soviet state.
Now, there are none, except in Russian-occupied portions of Ukraine, including both Crimea and the Donbas. And it is perhaps symbolic that the very last one was taken down not at the order of government officials but by an unknown Ukrainian who was expressing his outrage at what Lenin and the Soviets did to his country.
And this action, following all the others, highlights just how different Ukraine is from Russia where statues of Lenin aren’t being disturbed, monuments to Stalin and Beria are going up, and those to people who resisted the Soviet system are now at risk of being demolished by Russian court order.
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