News Feed

Governor: Lviv first oblast to complete decommunization process

1 min read
Governor: Lviv first oblast to complete decommunization process
The last remaining Soviet monument in Lviv Oblast being demolished in the community of Lopatyn in a photo shared on Jan. 30, 2024. (Telegram/Governor Maksym Kozytskyi)

Lviv Oblast has completed the process of decommunization, becoming the first Ukrainian oblast to do so, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Jan. 30.

The Ukrainian parliament outlawed most Soviet and communist symbols, street names, and moments in 2015 as part of the decommunization process. Monuments around the country have since come down or been changed, although the sheer number of Soviet-era statues and symbols has prolonged the completion of the project.

Ukraine made a significant step in August 2023 when the Soviet hammer and sickle was removed from the Motherland monument, the country's tallest statue and a fixture of the Kyiv skyline. It was replaced by the trident, Ukraine's coat of arms.

Kozytskyi said that 312 Soviet monuments were removed in 2023, with the last remaining structure taken down in the community of Lopatyn, located around 90 kilometers from the city of Lviv.

No funds from the oblast's budget were used in dismantling the monuments, according to Kozytskyi.

Instead, local citizens helped to remove them, he said.

Video thumbnail
Avatar
Nate Ostiller

News Editor

Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Read more
News Feed
Video

The Kyiv Independent staff documented what it feels like to live and sleep in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia intensifies its drone and missile attacks on the city. Filmed over several weeks in June and July, our journalists take shelter in bathrooms, basements, and parking garages as explosions ring out overhead.

Show More