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# Ukraine Tears Down Kyiv's Massive "Soviet Friendship" Monument
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ukraine-tears-down-kyivs-massive-soviet-friendship-monument/
- Published: 2022-04-28T22:10:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:42:04.000Z
- Description: The capital city will also rename 467 locations currently named after Russians.
- Author: Elaine Velie
- Tags: News, Kyiv, Russia, Statues, Ukraine, Ukraine Invasion, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:22 (2021, 2022, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/04/my-project-6.jpg)

The bronze statue underneath the "People's Friendship Arch" (photo by Jennifer Boyer via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferboyer/5984935377/in/photostream/?ref=hyperallergic.com))

As Russian forces continue to ravage Ukraine, the city of Kyiv dismantled a 30-foot-tall statue dedicated to “Soviet friendship” on April 26\. The Soviet government gifted the three-part sculpture — consisting of a titanium arch, a bronze statue, and a granite steel statue — to the Ukrainian capital in 1982\. 

The statue [depicts a Ukrainian worker and a Russian worker](https://architectuul.com/architecture/people-s-friendship-arch?ref=hyperallergic.com) holding up the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples, a medal the Russian government awarded to individuals and groups for strengthening ties between ethnic and geographic groups within the USSR (a version [still exists today](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/13/what-is-the-russian-order-of-friendship-and-why-does-trumps-pick-for-secretary-of-state-have-one/?ref=hyperallergic.com)). City officials first tore down one of the bronze heads, and then the entire monument was removed with a crane.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/04/screen-shot-2022-04-28-at-3-50-59-pm.jpg)

A screenshot of a [tweet](https://twitter.com/StratcomCentre/status/1518953797476835330?ref=hyperallergic.com) by @StratcomCentre (screenshot Elaine Velie/Hyperallergic)

Now only the boots of the two men remain. According to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/kyiv-pulls-down-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian-friendship-2022-04-26/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a crowd of around 100 people cheered "Glory to Ukraine" when the statue was toppled.

The third part of the Soviet gift was a granite steel statue depicting the 1654 [Pereyaslav Council](https://www.britannica.com/event/Pereyaslav-Agreement?ref=hyperallergic.com), in which the Cossack army submitted to the Russian tsar in central Ukraine. The symbol suggests the [unification of the two countries](https://www.jstor.org/stable/826545?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/04/kiev_2020_god_37-1.jpg)

The granite steel statue depicts the 1654 Pereyaslav Council. (via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9A%D0%B8%D0%B5%D0%B2,%5F2020%5F%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4,%5F37.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com))

In a statement, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said the People's Friendship Arch will remain. After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, [activists painted a black stripe](https://www.npr.org/2022/04/26/1094793936/peoples-friendship-arch-kyiv-streets-renamed?utm%5Fcampaign=npr&utm%5Fterm=nprnews&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com) on the arch meant to depict a crack, symbolizing a rupture between the two nations. Now, the city will change the monument's name from “People’s Friendship Arch” to “Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People” and [add the colors of the Ukrainian flag to the arch.](https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-04-25-22/h%5Fd8a31206b65f9a408e6b1d05ee305ec1?ref=hyperallergic.com) The enormous landmark, situated at a scenic viewpoint over the Dnieper River in a historic district, was a popular tourist destination and photo spot in Kyiv.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/04/my-project-7.jpg)

The arch will be colored with the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag (photo Jennifer Boyer via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferboyer/5984933783?ref=hyperallergic.com))

"We now see what this 'friendship' is — \[the\] destruction of Ukrainian cities ... killing tens of thousands of peaceful people,” Mayor Klitschko [told Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/kyiv-pulls-down-soviet-era-monument-symbolising-russian-ukrainian-friendship-2022-04-26/?ref=hyperallergic.com). "I am convinced such a monument has an entirely different meaning now." More than [11 million people](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60555472?ref=hyperallergic.com) have evacuated Ukraine since Russia's invasion, and [5,939 civilian casualties](https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/04/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-27-april-2022?ref=hyperallergic.com) have been recorded.

The city of Kyiv alsoplans to rename [467 other locations](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-28/ukraine-to-rename-streets-and-remove-works-linked-to-russia/101021314?ref=hyperallergic.com) that are currently named after Russians, including a square and a street named for writers Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin, respectively.