Yevheniia Moliar

Ukraine must stop destroying its cultural heritage

In tearing down Soviet public statues and mosaics, the country is erasing a part of its own history

A monument to Soviet soldier Alexander Matrosov, by Ukrainian sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich and architect Yevgeny Stamo, in Dnipro, central Ukraine, being dismantled in January 2023. Credit: Ukrinform / Alamy Stock Photo  
issue 11 March 2023

Russia is not the only country erasing Ukraine’s cultural heritage. Ukraine itself has been demolishing its own public statues and murals for years. Before the war, in 2015, our parliament passed legislation that criminalised communist propaganda. ‘Decommunisation’ was a deceptively simple idea: it started with the removal of our 1,300 Lenins and a few other revolutionary figures.

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