First the president, now Lenin: Stunning map reveals 100 statues of Soviet leader have been toppled in Ukraine
- Dozens of Soviet icons are coming down across the troubled country
- To keep track of them, the opposition produced an interactive map
- But in the east, pro-Russia brigades have formed to protect them
PUBLISHED: 11:26 GMT, 25 February 2014 | UPDATED: 11:29 GMT, 25 February 2014
Statues of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin are being toppled in a revolutionary frenzy sweeping Ukraine, it emerged today.
After Viktor Yanukovych's rule came crashing down on Saturday, protesters have turned their attention to the 1,500 Soviet icons that still remain across their troubled country.
Around 100 of the so-called 'reclining Lenins' have reportedly been destroyed according to an interactive map released by Euromaidan, the opposition movement organisers.
This stunning map shows the scale of protests against Ukraine's remaining Lenin statues. Each sign shows an icon that has come down
Dozens of these Soviet icons have been pulled down across the troubled country
Far-right activists with the group Pravy Sector are shown pulling down a Soviet statue in the town of Zhytomyr,
Videos have appeared on YouTube of the scenes being re-enacted across the country - in Bila Tserkva from to Khmelnitsky - and a flood of pictures posted on Twitter.
In one video, far-right activists with the group Pravy Sector are shown pulling down a Soviet statue in the town of Zhytomyr, according to protest organizers Euromaidan.
Euromaidan also tweeted a photo of a statue tumbling in Odessa. One Ukrainian newspaper, Ekspres, counted 90 Lenin statues torn down by Monday.
In December anti-government protesters were pictured toppled a statue of the Soviet state founder in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
They attacked it with hammers in a symbolic challenge to President Viktor Yanukovich and his plans for closer ties with Russia.
'Yanukovich, you are next!' read a poster stuck on the plinth where the red granite statue of Lenin had stood. People hacked off chunks of the prostrate leader of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution to take home as souvenirs.
Earlier this month they replaced it with a golden toilet.
Toppled: The statues of Lenin are being pulled down in acts of rich historical symbolism
In December anti-government protesters were pictured toppled a statue of the Soviet state founder in Ukraine's capital Kiev
Ukrainians break a monument to Vladimir Lenin in the centre of Kiev in December
Even before recent protests erupted, statues of Lenin were a battleground between Ukraine's political left and right.
Between 2009 and 2012, 12 Lenin statues were smashed with sledgehammers, broken, shot with paintball guns and dressed in a rabbit mask, according to Ria Novosti.
However, tn the Russian-speaking east, many Ukrainians are vehemently against toppling of their old Soviet traditions and distrust the Ukrainian revolutionaries' pro-West stance.
An activist of the Ukrainian Communist party together with a few others stands at the Lenin monument in the centre of the industrial city of Donetsk, reportedly to prevent it destruction by Maidan supporters
Activists of the Ukrainian Communist party sit at the Lenin monument in the center of the industrial city of Donetsk
Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin speaking in Red Square, in November 7, 1918
In Crimea, hundreds queued to join a 'self-defence' brigade in an area which has so far refused to accept parliament’s authority in Kiev.
Unlike in the west of Ukraine, the region's main city of Sevastopol's still has many Soviet memorials and its Lenin still looks over the Black Sea.
The Russian Black Sea fleet which is based there employs more than 25,000 and enjoys overwhelming local support.
In Kharkiv, the city to which Yanukovych had fled, some 3,000 'defenders' barricaded themselves around a statue of Lenin over the weekend vowing to resist the control of the new authorities.
And the Ukrainian flag was lowered from the mayor's office in Kerch, in eastern Crimea, and the Russian flag raised instead.
Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky claimed yesterday that eastern Ukraine should rejoin Russia, with Moscow 'switching off the gas' to the rest of the country.
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