Zelenskyy proposes replacing Kyiv's Lenin statue with a monument to Ivan Mazepa

Since 2013 the Lenin monument on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Kyiv has stood on an empty plinth, its base painted white and marked with a Ukrainian trident after being toppled during the 2014 Euromaidan protests. In June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced plans to install a statue of 18th‑century Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa on the same pedestal, arguing that where Lenin fell, Mazepa will stand firm. The proposal has ignited debate over Ukraine’s de‑communisation drive, national identity and how history is memorialised.

Scholars note that removing Soviet‑era monuments accelerated after Ukraine’s 1991 independence, the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the full‑scale Russian invasion in 2022. The suggested Mazepa figure, once portrayed by Russia as a traitor, is being reclaimed as a symbol of Ukrainian sovereignty. The new monument would be placed near the historic Pechersk Lavra monastery, which itself suffered damage from Russian missiles.