The Ukrainian government has removed the hammer and sickle from a 62-meter-high steel statue of a woman holding a shield with the hammer and sickle and a sword, which was opened in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II. The government plans to replace the shield with a new one bearing the country's trident emblem. This is part of a campaign to remove Soviet-era symbols, which has also led to the removal and demolition of hundreds of Soviet-era monuments and memorials in Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states.
In another attempt to re-write history and guided by blind anti-communism, the Ukrainian authorities proceeded to the removal of the hammer and sickle from a gigantic sculptural figure that watches over Kiev, as part of a campaign to remove Soviet-era symbols.
The 62-metre-high steel figure of a woman holding a shield with the hammer and sickle and a sword, was opened in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II.
Standing on top of a war museum building, it is known in Ukrainian as Batkivshchyna Maty, literally "Fatherland Mother". Through the Ministry of Culture, the reactionary, far-right Ukrainian Government, has backed a plan to give the figure a new shield bearing the country's trident emblem.
Since last month, workers in a cradle suspended from a rail on top of the shield have been gradually cutting off grain and ribbon elements of the Soviet emblem and lowering them on ropes. The whole shield will be replaced with a new one bearing the trident.
Using the imperialist war between NATO and capitalist Russia as a pretext, Ukraine's authorities have proceeded to the removal and demolition of hundreds of Soviet-era monuments and memorials. The same policy has been followed by other reactionary governments, including the ones of Poland and the Baltic states.