Decommunization in Ukraine

An unofficial decommunization process started in Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the following independence of Ukraine in 1991. Decommunization was carried out much more ruthlessly and visibly in the former Soviet Union's Baltic states and Warsaw Pact countries outside the Soviet Union.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraine-toppled-communist-statues-but-raised-a-bigger-debate/2015/08/13/646a0810-3ab1-11e5-b759-e3c43f009486_story.html Ukraine toppled communist statues but raised a bigger debate], The Washington Post (13 August 2015) Ukraine's first president after the country's 1991 independence from the Soviet Union, Leonid Kravchuk, had also issued orders aimed at "de-sovietisation" in the early 1990s.{{cite news|author=Rostyslav Khotin|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8380433.stm|title=Ukraine tears down controversial statue|agency=BBC News|date=27 November 2009|access-date=17 October 2017}}

In the following years, although at a slow rate, historical monuments to Soviet leaders were removed in Ukraine. This process went on much further in the Ukrainian-speaking western regions than in the industrialised, largely Russian-speaking eastern regions. Decommunization laws were drafted in the Ukrainian parliament in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2013, but they all failed to materialize.[http://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-russia-anti-communist-laws/ Ukrainian PM leads charge to erase Soviet history], Politico (27 April 2015)

{{see also|Ukrainian decommunization laws}}

File:Decommunization in Ukraine watch.jpg on 28 September 2014.]]

During and after Euromaidan, starting with the fall of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv on 8 December 2013, several Lenin monuments and statues were removed or destroyed by protesters.

In April 2014, a year before the formal, nationwide decommunization process in Ukraine, local authorities removed and altered communist symbols and place names, as in Dnipropetrovsk.{{cite news |url= http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ukraine-day-after_783577.html |work= The Weekly Standard |first= Jeffrey |last= Gedmin |title= Ukraine: the Day After |date= 10 March 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015 |archive-date= 17 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150617101811/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ukraine-day-after_783577.html |url-status= dead }}{{cite news|url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/14/ukraine-crimea-referendum/6319183/ |work=USA Today |first= Olga |last= Rudenko |title= In East Ukraine, fear of Putin, anger at Kiev |date= 14 March 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015}}{{cite news|url= http://tsn.ua/ukrayina/sche-odnogo-lenyna-zvalili-v-dnypropetrovsku-363832.html |work= TSN.ua |script-title=uk:Пам'ятник Леніну у Дніпропетровську остаточно перетворили в купу каміння |language= uk |trans-title=Monument to Lenin in Dnipro finally turned into a pile of stones |date= 19 August 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015}}

On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation on decommunization.{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/ukraine-decommunisation-law-soviet |title= Ukraine to rewrite Soviet history with controversial 'decommunisation' laws |first= Lily |last= Hyde |work=The Guardian |date= 20 April 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150516095241/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/ukraine-decommunisation-law-soviet |archive-date= 16 May 2015 |access-date= 17 May 2015}} It was submitted by the Second Yatsenyuk Government, banning the promotion of symbols of "Communist and National Socialist totalitarian regimes".{{cite news|url= http://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-purges-symbols-its-communist-past-321663 |title= Ukraine Purges Symbols of Its Communist Past |first= Nolan |last= Peterson |work= Newsweek |date= 10 April 2015 |access-date= 17 May 2015}}{{cite news |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/259775.html |title= Rada bans Communist, Nazi propaganda in Ukraine |work= Interfax-Ukraine |date= 9 April 2015 |access-date= 17 May 2015}} One of the main provisions of the bill was the recognition of the Soviet Union's regime as "criminal" and one that "pursued a state terror policy". The legislation prohibits the use of communist symbols and propaganda and also bans all symbols and propaganda of national-socialism and its values and any activities of Nazi or fascist groups in Ukraine. The ban applies to monuments, place and street names. The ban does not apply to World War II monuments and when symbols are located in a cemetery.

Expressing pro-communist views was not made illegal. The ban on communist symbols did result in the removal of hundreds of statues, the replacement of street signs and the renaming of populated places including some of Ukraine's biggest cities like Dnipro. The city administration of Dnipro estimated in June 2015 that 80 streets, embankments, squares, and boulevards would have to be renamed.[http://www.rferl.mobi/a/27064346.html Ukraine's] Dnipro Digs In To Complex Decommunization Process, Radio Free Europe (11 June 2015) Maxim Eristavi of Hromadske.TV estimated late April 2015 that the nationwide renaming would cost around $1.5 billion.

The legislation also granted special legal status to veterans of the "struggle for Ukrainian independence" from 1917 to 1991 (the lifespan of the Soviet Union). The same day, the parliament also passed a law that replaced the term "Great Patriotic War" in the national lexicon with "World War II" from 1939 to 1945 (instead of 1941–45 as is the case with the "Great Patriotic War"),{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-ukraine-decommunization-20150513-story.html |title=Ukraine's plans to discard Soviet symbols are seen as divisive, ill-timed |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=13 May 2015}} a change of great significance.{{cite book |first= Norman |last= Davies |author-link= Norman Davies |title= Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory |year= 2006 |location= London |publisher= Macmillan |isbn= 9780333692851 |oclc= 70401618 |pages= 153–155|chapter= Phase 1, 1939–1941: the era of the Nazi-Soviet pact}}

On 15 May 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Decommunisation Laws.[http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/05/15/7068057/ Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization]. Ukrainska Pravda. 15 May 2015
[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/265988.html Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes], Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 2015 This started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and renaming of public places named after communist-related themes.

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| footer = Symbols of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (flag and emblem).

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The Ukrainian decommunization law applies, but is not limited to:

• the Flag of the Soviet Union
• the flags of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and of the 14 other republics of the Soviet Union, as well as the flags of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and abroad{{efn|This ban does not include the national flags of the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Hungary, Laos, Poland and Vietnam.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}}}
• the State Emblem of the Soviet Union and its constituent republics as well as the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and abroad{{efn|The ban is not extended to the national emblems of Belarus, Cuba, Laos, North Macedonia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}}}
• the State Anthem of the Soviet Union and the republics{{efn|This does not affect the Anthems of Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and formerly, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. They all retained their Soviet-era melody with new lyrics written in its place.}}
• the Red star
• the Hammer and sickle
• images bearing the likeness of Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, and Che Guevara
• military uniforms

The laws were published in {{lang|uk-latn|Holos Ukrayiny}} on 20 May 2015; this made them come into force officially the next day.{{cite news |url=http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7068453/ |title=Laws discommunization and status OUN and UPA published in "Holos Ukrayiny" |language=uk |work=Ukrainska Pravda |date=20 May 2015}}

On 3 June 2015, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory published a list of 22 cities and 44 villages subject to renaming. By far most of these places were in the Donbas region in East Ukraine; the others were situated in Central Ukraine and South Ukraine.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/06/4/7070191 In Ukraine rename 22 cities and 44 villages], Ukrainska Pravda (4 June 2015) Under the Decommunisation Laws the municipal governments had until 21 November 2015 to change the name of the settlement they govern. For settlements that failed to rename, the provincial authorities had until 21 May 2016 to change the name. If after that date the settlement still retained its old name the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine renamed the settlement.

In a 24 July 2015 decree based on the decommunization laws, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stripped the Communist Party of Ukraine, Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and Communist Party of Workers and Peasants of their right to participate in elections and it stated it was continuing the court actions (that started in July 2014) to end the registration of Ukraine's communist parties.{{cite news |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraines-justice-ministry-outlaws-communists-from-elections-394217.html |title=Ukraine's Justice Ministry outlaws Communists from elections |work=Kyiv Post |date=24 July 2015}}{{cite news |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/279946.html |title=Justice Ministry bans three communist parties from taking part in election process as they violate Ukrainian law - minister |publisher=Interfax-Ukraine |date=24 July 2015}}

On 30 September 2015, the District Administrative Court in Kyiv banned the parties Communist Party of Workers and Peasants and Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed); they both did not appeal.{{cite news |url=http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7083272/ |title=The court banned the two Communist parties |work=Ukrainska Pravda |date=1 October 2015 |language=uk}}{{cite news |url=http://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-politics/1891573-kyivs-court-terminates-two-communist-parties.html |title=Kyiv's Court terminates two Communist parties |publisher=Ukrinform |date=1 October 2015}}

In October 2015, a statue of Lenin in Odesa was converted into a statue of Star Wars villain Darth Vader.{{cite magazine|last1=Worland|first1=Justin|title=Ukrainian Lenin Statue Turned Into Darth Vader|url=https://time.com/4086228/ukraine-lenin-darth-vader/|access-date=25 October 2015|magazine=Time|date=25 October 2015}}

On 16 December 2015, the Kyiv District Administrative Court validated the claim of the Ministry of Justice in full, banning the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.info/society/1214377-court-rules-complete-ban-of-communist-party-of-ukraine.html |title=Court rules complete ban of Communist Party of Ukraine : UNIAN news|publisher=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency|date=16 December 2015|access-date=4 April 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/ukraine-bans-communist-party-separatism |title=Ukraine bans Communist party for 'promoting separatism'|work=The Guardian|date=17 December 2015|access-date=4 April 2016}} The party appealed this ban at the European Court of Human Rights.

{{multiple image

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| footer = The City Hall of Mykolaiv in 2006 (left) and 2017 (right). The star, reminiscent of the Soviet era Red star still visible in the 2006 picture, was replaced in November 2016 by the coat of arms of Ukraine.{{in lang|uk}} [http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7126595/ Mykolaiv City Council on buildings dismantled Soviet "star"], Ukrainska Pravda (12 November 2016)

| image1 = Здание Горкома в Николаеве.jpg | caption1 = | width1 = 250

| image2 = Mykolaiv town hall June 2017 cropped.jpg | caption2 = | width2 = 250

}}

In March 2016, statues of Lenin, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Sergey Kirov and a Komsomol monument were removed or taken down in the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia. The statue overlooking the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (formerly named Lenin Dam) was the largest remaining Lenin statue in Ukraine.{{citation|title = In pictures: Ukraine removes communist-era symbols|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36396854|work = BBC News|author = Vitaly Shevchenko|date = 1 June 2016}}

On 19 May 2016, the Ukrainian parliament voted to rename Ukraine's fourth-largest city Dnipropetrovsk to "Dnipro".{{Cite news|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-renames-dnipropetrovsk-dnipro/27745215.html|title=Ukraine Renames Third-Largest City|last=Service|first=RFE/RL's Ukrainian|date=19 May 2016|newspaper=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|language=en|access-date=19 May 2016}} The renaming of various locations was signed into the law on 20 May 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=58788|title=Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України|website=w1.c1.rada.gov.ua}}{{Cite web|url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1353-19|title=Про перейменування деяких населених пунктів|website=Офіційний вебпортал парламенту України}}

The Ukrainian parliament declared in July 2016 that the new names of places in Crimea,{{efn|Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the status of the Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol is under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers the Crimea and Sevastopol an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia, on the other hand, considers the Crimea and Sevastopol an integral part of Russia, with Sevastopol functioning as a federal city within the Crimean Federal District.{{cite news|last=Gutterman |first=Steve |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140318 |title=Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions |date=18 March 2014 |agency=Reuters.com |access-date=26 March 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275 |title=Ukraine crisis timeline |work=BBC News}}[http://english.cntv.cn/2014/03/28/ARTI1395947928472439.shtml UN General Assembly adopts resolution affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304200543/http://english.cntv.cn/2014/03/28/ARTI1395947928472439.shtml |date=4 March 2018 }}, China Central Television (28 March 2014)}} under full Russian control since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, "will enter force with the return of temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol under the general jurisdiction of Ukraine."{{cite news |url=http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7116300/ |title=Google turned the Soviet Crimea names on the map |work=Ukrainska Pravda |date=29 July 2015}}

In May 2017, 46 Ukrainian MPs, mainly from the Opposition Bloc faction, appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to declare the 2015 decommunization laws unconstitutional.{{cite news |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-s-constitutional-court-upholds-law-equating-communism-to-nazism/30060259.html |title=Ukraine's Constitutional Court Upholds Law Equating Communism To Nazism |work=Radio Free Europe |date=17 July 2019}}
{{cite news |url=https://belsat.eu/en/news/ukraine-ultimately-puts-nazis-communists-on-equal-footing/ |title=Ukraine ultimately puts Nazis, Communists on equal footing |work=Belsat TV |date=17 July 2019}}

Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych stated in February 2018 that "De-communism in the context of depriving the symbols of the totalitarian regime has actually been completed".{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2018/02/10/7171212/ De-communism in Ukraine is actually completed - Vyatrovich], Ukrainska Pravda (10 February 2018) Although according to him the city of Kyiv was lagging behind.

In February 2019, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine refused to register the candidacy of (leader of Communist Party) Petro Symonenko for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election due to the fact that the statute, name and symbolism of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not comply with the 2015 decommunization laws.{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2019/02/8/7206166/ The CEC refused to register nearly fifty presidential candidates], Ukrainska Pravda (8 February 2019) Symonenko appealed the decision, but the court of appeal confirmed decision of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine.

It was proposed that the oblast of Dnipropetrovsk would be renamed to "Sicheslav".{{cite news |url=https://www.e-ir.info/2022/02/02/decommunisation-in-dnipropetrovsk-and-dnipro-in-2014-2019 |title=Decommunisation in Dnipropetrovsk and Dnipro in 2014–2019 |author=Ihor Kocherhin |date=2 February 2022}}

On 16 July 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine upheld the 2015 Ukrainian decommunization laws.

On 7 November 2020 in the village Mala Rohan, an Emblem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was dismantled from the facade of a school.{{in lang|ru}} [https://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/novosti/06.11.2020/so_shkoly_s_maloy_rogani_ubrali_zapreschennyy_gerb Prohibited coat of arms removed from school in Mala Rohan], STATUS QUO (7 November 2020)

On 27 April 2022 (during the Russian invasion of Ukraine), the {{convert|27|foot|m|adj=on|0}} Soviet-era bronze statue under the People's Friendship Arch in Kyiv, representing Russian–Ukrainian friendship, was removed by order of Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko.{{cite web |url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/soviet-era-statue-symbolic-of-russia-ukraine-friendship-destroyed-in-kyiv-2924721 |title=Soviet-Era Statue Symbolic Of Russia-Ukraine Friendship Destroyed In Kyiv |website=NDTV |date=27 April 2022 }}

{{multiple image

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| footer = The Motherland Monument in Kyiv in 2002 with the Soviet emblem (left), and 2024 with the tryzub (right).

| image1 = Kyiv - Motherland monument 250502.jpg| caption1 = | width1 = 250

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On 1 August 2023, the Soviet emblem was removed from the Motherland Monument (part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War) in Kyiv.{{cite web |url= https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/in-pictures-soviet-emblem-cut-off-ukrain-idUSRTSM3U3M|title= In pictures: Soviet emblem cut off Ukraine's Motherland Monument|date=2023-08-01 |publisher=Reuters| first=Valentyn | last=Ogirenko }} Its replacement, the Ukrainian Trident, was fully installed on 23 August 2023 (the day before Independence Day of Ukraine).{{Cite web |title=Ukraine replaces Soviet hammer and sickle with trident on towering Kyiv monument |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ukraine-replaces-soviet-coat-arms-trident-towering-kyiv-102057342 |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=ABC News |language=en}}
{{cite news|url=https://kyivindependent.com/culture-ministry-work-begins-to-replace-soviet-symbols-on-motherland-monument/ |title=Culture Ministry: Work begins to replace Soviet symbols on Motherland Monument. |work=The Kyiv Independent |date=30 July 2023 | access-date=3 August 2023}} The monument was also renamed to Mother Ukraine.{{cite web |url= https://kyivindependent.com/soviet-coat-of-arms-removed-from-kyivs-motherland-statue/|title= Soviet coat of arms removed from Kyiv's Motherland Monument|date=2023-08-01 |publisher=Reuters| first=Elsa| last=Court}}

On 24 October 2023 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law No. 8263 that abolished the concept of urban-type settlements in Ukraine.{{cite web |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2023/10/24/7425475/|title=Zelensky canceled urban-type settlements|date=25 October 2023|access-date=24 October 2023|publisher=Ukrainska Pravda|language=Ukrainian}} Law No. 8263 was meant to facilitate "de-Sovietization of the procedure for solving certain issues of the administrative and territorial system of Ukraine."

On 30 January 2024, the governor of Lviv Oblast said that the region was the first in Ukraine to remove all of its communist-era monuments.{{Cite web |title=Ukraine's Lviv becomes first region to remove all Soviet-era monuments |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-lviv-becomes-first-region-remove-all-soviet-era-monuments-2024-01-30/ |access-date=2024-04-05}}

File:Kharkiv city hall - UkSSR coat of arms.jpg, which was removed after the laws took effect.]]

On 18 May 2015, the OSCE expressed concern that the laws could negatively impact the freedom of the press in Ukraine. The OSCE also regretted what it perceived as a lack of opportunity of civil society to participate in public discussions about the laws.

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group stated (in May 2015) the laws "(one of which) effectively criminalizes public expression of views held by many Ukrainians".[http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1431743447 President signs dangerously flawed 'decommunization' laws], Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (16 May 2015)

On 18 December 2015, the Venice Commission stated that Ukraine's decommunization laws did not comply with European legislative standards. It was in particular critical about the banning of communist parties.[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/312592.html Ukraine's law on 'decommunisation' does not comply with EU standards – Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR], Interfax-Ukraine (19 December 2015)

In April 2015, Russian lawmakers claimed that it was "cynical" to put communist and Nazi symbol on par with each other, and Russian-backed paramilitaries have condemned the law. The then leader and head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko stated in late February 2016 that when renamed cities "return under our jurisdiction", they would be renamed to their pre-decommunized name.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/02/25/7100301/ Захарченко мріє захопити і перейменувати декомунізовані міста Донбасу (Zakharchenko wants to capture and rename decommunizated cities of Donbas)], Ukrainska Pravda (25 February 2016)

In his February 2022 Address concerning the events in Ukraine, Putin claimed that Ukraine's decommunization does not make any sense because "modern Ukraine was created by communist Russia, and specifically Lenin". Vitaly Chervonenko from the BBC noted how carefully Putin kept silent about the independent Ukrainian state formations of 1917–1920 and Kyiv's war with Lenin's Bolshevik government, whose purpose was to include Ukraine in Bolshevik Russia.{{Cite news|title="Ленін створив сучасну Росію, а не Україну". Історики про скандальну промову Путіна|url=https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-60480944|work=BBC News Україна|accessdate=2022-03-04|language=uk}}

{{See also|List of Ukrainian toponyms that were changed as part of decommunization in 2016|Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine}}

File:Ukrainisches Haus Kiew Relief.JPG bas-reliefs at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv; removed in August 2016 (to comply with decommunization laws) and transferred to the Museum of Totalitarianism{{cite web | url=http://www.unian.info/multimedia/photo/37311-demontaj-sovetskih-barelefov-s-fasada-ukrainskogo-doma.html | title=Soviet bas-reliefs being dismantled from Ukrainian House façade }}]]

Since 16 December 2015 three communist parties are banned in Ukraine (the Communist Party of Ukraine, Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and Communist Party of Workers and Peasants). The only party that appealed this ban was the Communist Party of Ukraine; this resulted in the court's decision to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine did not come into force.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} However, the April 2015 decommunization law contains a norm that allows the Ministry of Justice to prohibit the Communist Party from participating in elections.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments in 1991, declining to 1,300 by December 2015.[http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/154195 Out of Sight], The Ukrainian Week (28 December 2015) More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed from February 2014 (when 376 came down) to December 2015. On 16 January 2017 the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization.{{in lang|uk}} [http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7132563 Dekomunizuvaly monuments to Lenin in 1320, Bandera set 4], Ukrainska Pravda (16 January 2017)
{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi With 50 Thousand Renamed Objects Place Names, Only 34 Are Named After Bandera] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019054457/http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi |date=19 October 2017 }}, Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (16 January 2017)

On 16 January 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance stated that 51,493 streets, squares and "other facilities" had been renamed due to decommunization. By June 2016 there were renamed 19 raions, 27 urban districts, 29 cities, 48 urban-type settlements, 119 rural settlements and 711 villages. The fourth largest city was renamed from Dnipropetrovsk to Dnipro. In the second-largest city of Ukraine,[http://www.euronews.com/2014/10/23/kharkiv-never-had-eastern-western-conflicts/ Kharkiv "never had eastern-western conflicts"], Euronews (23 October 2014) Kharkiv, more than 200 streets, 5 administrative raions, 4 parks and 1 metro station had been renamed by early February 2016.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/02/3/7097721/ In Kharkiv "dekomunizuvaly" has 48 streets and 5 regions], Ukrainska Pravda (3 February 2015)
{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/vlast/03.02.2016/v_harkove_pereimenovali_tri_rajona/ In Kharkiv was renamed three district], SQ (3 February 2015)
{{in lang|uk}} [http://ua.korrespondent.net/city/kharkov/3624201-u-kharkovi-vyrishyly-ne-pereimenovuvaty-zhovtnevyi-i-frunzenskyi-raiony In Kharkiv, decided not to rename October and Frunze district], Korrespondent.net (3 February 2015)
{{in lang|ru}} [http://korrespondent.net/city/kharkov/3624201-v-kharkove-reshyly-ne-pereymenovyvat-oktiabrskyi-y-frunzenskyi-raiony In Kharkiv, it was decided not to rename the Oktyabrsky and the Frunze district], Korrespondent.net (3 February 2015)
{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/vlast/20.11.2015/gorsovet_pereimenoval_170_ulic/ List of 170 renamed streets], SQ (20 November 2015)
{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/harkovskiy-gorsovet-pereimenoval-173-ulitsy-1448020126.html Kharkiv city council renamed 173 streets, 4 parks and a metro station], RBC Ukraine (20 November 2015)
{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/obschestvo/03.02.2016/v_harkove_pereimenovali_esche_50_ulic_spisok/ In Kharkiv was renamed even 50 streets: list], SQ (3 February 2015)

In all of 2016, 51,493 streets and 987 cities and villages were renamed, 25 raions were renamed and 1,320 Lenin monuments and 1,069 monuments to other communist figures removed. In some villages Lenin statues were remade into "non-communist historical figures" to save money.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2017/06/13/7146828/ Decommunisation in Zaporizhzhia, from Lenin "fashioned" Orlyk], Ukrainska Pravda (13 June 2017) One of the most prominent examples was Lenin monument in Odesa, which was remade into the monument to Darth Vader.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151023-the-man-who-turned-lenin-into-darth-vader|title=The man who turned Lenin into Darth Vader|author=Fiona Macdonald|date=23 October 2015|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 December 2018}}

In February 2019, The Guardian reported that the two Lenin statues in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were the only two remaining statues of Lenin in Ukraine, if not taking into account occupied territories of Ukraine.[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/28/revisiting-chernobyl-cemetery-of-dreams Revisiting Chernobyl: 'It is a huge cemetery of dreams'], The Guardian (28 February 2019) In January 2021 "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty" located three remaining Lenin statues in three (Ukrainian controlled) small villages.[https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-lenin-statues/31052671.html Goodbye Lenin? Not In These Ukrainian Villages], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (19 January 2021)

In January 2021, 24 Ukrainian streets were still named after former Russian cosmonaut and current United Russia member of the Russian State Duma Valentina Tereshkova (6 of them in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia{{efn|There were (also) Tereshkova streets in Lviv Oblast's Busk, Rivne Oblast's Radyvyliv and Sarny, Khmelnytskyi Oblast's Dunaivtsi and Cherkasy Oblast's Smila and in some other towns and villages.}}), according to the 2015 decommunization laws they should have been renamed.{{in lang|uk}} [https://lb.ua/blog/vadym_pozdniakov/474682_kudi_vede_vulitsya_valentini.html Where does Valentina Tereshkova Street lead?], LB.ua (6 January 2021) They were renamed in 2022. The last Lenin statue in Ukraine (excluding territories currently annexed by Russia or occupied by separatists) was demolished in Stari Troyany, Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast on 27 January 2021.{{cite news |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/31072087.html |title=На Украине снесли последний памятник Владимиру Ленину |newspaper=Радио Свобода |language=Russian |date=27 January 2021 }}

The director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych stated in February 2018 that the then-still existing Soviet hammer and sickle on the shield of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv should be removed to comply with the country's decommunization laws and replace it with the Ukrainian trident, which was subsequently done in 2023.

File:Пам'ятник чекістам, Кропивницький.jpg in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, 2023]]

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Lenin statues across Ukraine, which had been taken down by the Ukrainians in the preceding years, were re-erected by the Russians in the Russian-controlled areas.{{cite news |last1=Harding |authorlink1=Luke Harding |first1=Luke |title=Back in the USSR: Lenin statues and Soviet flags reappear in Russian-controlled cities |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/back-in-the-ussr-lenin-statues-and-soviet-flags-reappear-in-russian-controlled-cities |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=23 April 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504233450/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/23/back-in-the-ussr-lenin-statues-and-soviet-flags-reappear-in-russian-controlled-cities |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Fink |first1=Andrew |title=Lenin Returns to Ukraine |url=https://thedispatch.com/p/lenin-returns-to-ukraine |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Dispatch |date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423185553/https://thedispatch.com/p/lenin-returns-to-ukraine |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Bowman |first1=Verity |title=Kyiv pulls down Soviet-era monument symbolising Russian-Ukrainian friendship |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/27/kyiv-pulls-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian/ |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=27 April 2022 |archive-date=27 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427204034/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/27/kyiv-pulls-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Trofimov |first1=Yaroslav |authorlink1=Yaroslav Trofimov |title=Russia's Occupation of Southern Ukraine Hardens, With Rubles, Russian Schools and Lenin Statues |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-occupation-of-southern-ukraine-hardens-with-rubles-russian-schools-and-lenin-statues-11651403176 |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503233746/https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-occupation-of-southern-ukraine-hardens-with-rubles-russian-schools-and-lenin-statues-11651403176 |url-status=live }}

A November 2016 poll, showed that 48% of respondents supported a ban on Communist ideology in Ukraine, 36% were against it and 16% were undecided. It also showed that 41% of respondents supported the initiative to dismantle all monuments to Lenin in the country, whereas 48% were against it and 11% were undecided.{{cite web | url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/almost-half-residents-ukraine-want-decommunization.html | title=Almost half of residents of Ukraine want decommunization - Nov. 18, 2016 | date=18 November 2016 }}

As of 8 April 2022, according to a poll by the sociological group Rating, 76% of Ukrainians support the initiative to rename streets and other objects whose names are associated with the Soviet Union and Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web |title=76% of Ukrainians support renaming streets and other objects related to Russia |url=https://nikopol.city/articles/205714/-76-ukrainciv-pidtrimuyut-perejmenuvannya-nazv-vulic-ta-inshih-obyektiv-povyazanih-z-rosiyeyu |access-date=22 April 2022 |website=Nikopol.City |language=uk}}{{Cite web |title=Eighth National Poll: Ukraine in War Conditions (April 6, 2022) |url=https://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/vosmoy_obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_6_aprelya_2022.html |language=uk}}

• Bans on communist symbols
• Decommunization
• Human rights in Ukraine
• Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
• List of communist monuments in Ukraine
• List of Ukrainian toponyms that were changed as part of decommunization in 2016
• Lustration in Ukraine
• Derussification in Ukraine
• Soviet imagery during the Russo-Ukrainian War

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://infolight.org.ua/thememap/dekomunizaciya-2015-sela#6.00/47.216/33.648 Interactive map of settlements that need to be renamed]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227103333/http://infolight.org.ua/thememap/dekomunizaciya-2015-sela#6.00/47.216/33.648 |date=27 February 2022 }} {{in lang|uk}}.

{{commons category|Decommunization in Ukraine}}

{{wikisource|:uk:Категорія:Декомунізаційний пакет|Decommunization related laws (in Ukrainian)}}

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