Lenin Statue Toppled, Reinstated in Ukraine

A statue to Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin was toppled in the central Ukrainian town of Vatutino on Sunday night only to be put back in place several hours later, the UNIAN news agency reported Monday.

“A group of unidentified persons detached the monument from the pedestal and toppled it. But it turned out that the statue, made of plaster and bricks, was solid enough to sustain the fall. Only the back of Lenin’s head and his cheek were slightly damaged,” the agency said.

Municipal workers put the statue back in its place on Monday morning and fixed it there with a layer of concrete.

A number of Lenin statues across the country have been vandalized since early December amid ongoing protests against the government’s decision to halt a landmark political and free-trade deal with the European Union and, instead, opt for stronger ties with Russia.

The first and most notable act of vandalism took place in the capital, Kiev, on December 8, when a landmark statue of the founder of the Soviet Union was torn down by pro-European protesters in symbolic defiance of Russian influence. Hours later, another statue of the Soviet leader was vandalized in the southern town of Kotovsk.