[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/monument-2.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tA pedestal that once supported a Lenin monument in Kyiv that has remained empty ever since 2013 may soon host a statue of a Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa, who is revered by many in Ukraine as a national hero.<\/p>\n
\n\tA 12-foot-tall red quartzite sculpture of Vladimir Lenin stood on the pedestal at the intersection of two main roads in Kyiv for almost 60 years, until it was toppled during the Euromaidan Uprising. The Euromaidan demonstrations had begun the previous month when then-president Viktor Yanukovych declined to sign an agreement with the European Union, thereby strengthening the country\u2019s ties with Russia.<\/p>\n
\n\tWithin a few years of Euromaidan, the Ukrainian government had outlawed Soviet symbols, including monuments to Lenin. According to the New York Times<\/em>, there were 5,500 statues of Lenin in Ukraine in 1991; by 2017, there were none.<\/p>\n \n\tOver the weekend, during a speech commemorating Ukraine\u2019s Constitution Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed that a bust of Mazepa should take the place of the toppled Lenin monument in Kyiv. Zelenskyy wrote on X that Mazepa, who served as head of the Cossack state from 1687 to 1709, deserves a full-fledged monument in the country\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n \n\tThe speech was made at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastery that Mazepa patronized. While unveiling a smaller bust of Mazepa on the grounds of the complex, near Dormition Cathedral, Zelenskyy introduced the idea of the new monument. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFor centuries, Russia has smeared his name, striving to make Ukrainians view their own history through the eyes of others, convincing our people that Mazepa was a traitor,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote. \u201cThis lie has failed. Forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-announces-replacement-toppled-lenin-monument-kyiv-1234790729\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/monument-2.jpg?w=1024″] A pedestal that once supported a Lenin monument in Kyiv that has remained empty ever since 2013 may soon host a statue of a Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa, who is revered by many in Ukraine as a national hero. A 12-foot-tall red quartzite sculpture of Vladimir Lenin stood on the pedestal at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2021197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2021197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2021197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2021197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2021197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}