In central Kyiv, the empty plinth at the bottom of Taras Shevchenko Boulevard has stood vacant since 2013, when crowds toppled the statue of Vladimir Lenin during the Maidan revolution. The pedestal, now daubed in white paint and graffiti, features a Ukrainian trident where the Soviet leader once stood. In June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed replacing Lenin with a statue of Ivan Mazepa, a 17th-century Cossack leader who broke with Moscow and fought for Ukrainian independence.
Zelenskyy's proposal and national identity
“I am certain that where Lenin fell, Mazepa will stand firm,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the Pechersk Lavra monastery, which was hit by Russian missiles. The proposed swap has sparked debate about monuments and changing national identity. Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has removed Soviet-era statues and renamed streets as part of decommunisation. The process accelerated after Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and moved faster after Putin's 2022 full-scale invasion.
Nataliia Kryvda, a professor of the history of culture at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, said Ukraine is undergoing an unfinished period of decolonisation. “The USSR absorbed national cultures. It tried to make a single nation of Soviet citizens. Russia today looks at Ukraine and says we are one people. It isn’t true. We have our own mindset, historical destiny, beliefs and dreams. Our identity is a dynamic process,” she said.
Mazepa's historical role
Mazepa, as hetman of Cossack Ukraine, sought to balance demands from Moscow and Warsaw. In 1708, after Russian Emperor Peter the Great refused to protect Ukrainian territory from Swedish invaders, Mazepa allied with Swedish King Charles XII—an act that ended in defeat and led the Bolsheviks to label Ukrainian patriots “Mazepists.” Kryvda described Mazepa as a “contradictory personality” but added: “Mazepa was the architect of European Ukraine.”
In his speech, Zelenskyy said Russia had smeared Mazepa for centuries as a traitor, aiming to make Ukrainians “view their own history through the eyes of others.” Alim Aliev, a writer and Crimean Tatar campaigner, said Ukraine is reclaiming its identity. “We are reclaiming our own voices and names,” he said, citing the example of poet Vasyl Stus, who will appear on a new 2,000 Hryvnia note in September.
Removal of other Soviet-era monuments
In June, workmen removed a statue of Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov from outside his former home on St Andrew’s Descent, following a city council vote. Other plaques to Bulgakov have been taken down. The museum’s director, Liudmyla Habianuri, said she was not opposed to the removal, noting that Bulgakov wrote negatively about Ukrainian nationalist forces in his novel The White Guard. “He was a witness to his times. And a satirist. He didn’t like anybody. That included communists and priests,” she said.
Habianuri said Russia’s war has prompted Ukrainians to ask, “Who am I? It’s a very painful question. If I speak Russian and watch Russian films and the Russians are killing me then I must give all that up. Then I’m Ukrainian. And if I’m Ukrainian, I must become Ukrainian as quickly as possible.” She welcomed the toppling of the Lenin statue, calling him “an enemy of humanity itself.” However, she questioned whether the plinth is fitting for Mazepa, noting that Germans hanged people there during World War II.
Mazepa monument at Pechersk Lavra
At the Pechersk Lavra, a bust of Mazepa has been erected in front of a fountain near the Dormition Cathedral, which was damaged by a Russian drone in June. Mazepa, a patron of the arts, funded the cathedral’s baroque renovation. Olena Polishchuk, a Ukrainian visitor from the UK, said: “He’s a famous man. I’m glad he’s being commemorated. He’s an important part of our history.”
