Vandalism
Vandals desecrated the Monument of Glory in Lviv.
In 2014-16, more than 500 memorial sites were desecrated in Ukraine (from 1991 to 2014 there were only 29 such cases). The most egregious cases are: swastika painted on the monument to the soldiers of the Soviet Army in the city of Chervonograd; desecration of the memorial “Menorah” in Kiev, established in memory of the Jews who died during the Nazi occupation; destruction of the memorial plaque to the Hero of the Soviet Union, military pilot, Fyodor Dudnik in Sumy region (all crimes committed in 2014); the destruction of the memorial plaque dedicated to Marshal Georgy Zhukov on May 16, 2015 (and the deputy nationalist Igor Mosiychuk secured that the arrested and this was released, announcing to militiamen that the young people allegedly acted within the framework of the adopted laws on decommunization, and calling Zhukov “Ukrainophobe”); desecration of the monument to the liberators of the city of Kharkov in January 2016; desecration of military graves near the regional center of Novoarkhangelsk, Kirovograd region on April 2, 2016; desecration of the Monument of Glory in Lviv in March 2016.
January 19, 2016 in Kharkov, unknown people damaged the monument to the heroes of the World War II, knocking down the inscription "Warrior-liberator" from it. The law enforcement bodies did not find the perpetrators.
On April 2, 2016, vandals abused the graves of the heroes of the Second World War in the Kirovograd region. The act of vandalism occurred near the regional center of Novoarkhangelsk in the Kirovograd region of Ukraine. Unknown people destroyed the "Frontier Pantheon," where the ashes of 200 fighters and commanders of frontier detachments and military units who died in July-August 1941 in the vicinity of Zeleny Brama are buried in mass graves.
On September 5, 2016 in Kiev, vandals painted and threw a monument to the Soviet partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
September 29, 2016 in Kiev, two monuments to the heroes of World War II were defiled. On the memorial plaque, Alexander Kronik, military commander who was taking in April 1945 Koenigsberg, wrote "kat" (hangman). On the memorial plaque of Sidor Kovpak, a Soviet partisan, they wrote a "murderer."
On April 19, 2017, a monument to General Nikolai Vatutin was desecrated in Kiev in Mariinsky Park, a two-minute walk from the Verkhovna Rada. The same General Vatutin who liberated Kiev from the Germans in 1943. Members of the National Corps wrote insulting inscriptions on the monument. The police took no action on the vandalism, despite the fact that the process of desecration of the monument was carefully recorded on video by the vandals themselves.
On May 18, 2017, the monument to General Nikolai Vatutin in Kiev was desecrated again. This time it was covered with paint . The perpetrators have not been found.
On July 3, 2017 in Lviv, unknown attackers stole a bronze wreath from the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located on the Hill of Glory memorial complex. In addition, large elements were cut off the bronze sculpture of soldiers of the Great Patriotic War on Lychakivska Street.
On July 22 in Kropivnitsky (formerly Kirovohrad), unknown persons desecrated a monument to the soldiers-liberators in the Park of Glory. The monument was spattered with paint, and insulting inscriptions were painted on it.
On September 27, 2017 in Poltava the monument to General Vatutin was desecrated. Vandals doused it with red paint . The perpetrators have not been found.
On November 7 in Kiev in the Park of Glory, unknown persons extinguished the Eternal Flame by pouring concrete on it .
On November 20, 2017 in Kiev in the Park of Glory, unknown persons repeated the abuse and again extinguished the Eternal Flame, pouring it with concrete . Characteristically, the Park of Glory is in close proximity to the government quarter, a 20-minute walk from the Ministry of the Interior. In both cases, however, the police could not find the culprits. Moreover - each time the police doubted the motives of the perpetrators, although it would seem that there are no options here.
To summarize, the glorification of Nazi collaborators and the desecration of monuments to anti-Hitler coalition fighters continued in Ukraine in 2017-21. Law enforcement agencies do not investigate vandalism even when it occurs in the center of Kiev and is recorded by the vandals themselves.
In October 2018, several dozen nationalists tried to demolish the monument to General Vatutin in Kiev, but were prevented by police officers. In November 2019, an inscription "Enemy" appeared on the same monument. In February 2020, it was also sprayed with paint. However, according to Ukrainian legislation, this monument cannot be demolished because under it is the burial place of the general who liberated Kiev in 1943.
As for the general's monument in Poltava, described above, it has also been desecrated almost annually since 2017. The city administration plans to move the monument to another location.
