'' was dismantled in September 1991, shortly after
Ukraine's Declaration of Independence (24 August 1991). The signs say: "In accordance with the decision of the City Executive Committee, preparatory work is underway for the dismantling of the monument," and: "We apologise for any temporary inconvenience caused." The demolition of Lenin monuments in Ukraine happened in four stages. During the 1990s, more than 2,000 Lenin monuments were demolished in western Ukraine, at the turn of the 1990–2000s more than 600 Lenin monuments were removed in western and central areas, in 2005–2008, more than 600 were demolished mainly in central areas, and in 2013–2014, 552 monuments were demolished. The first wave of demolitions of Lenin monuments happened in Western Ukraine in 1990–1991. On 1 August 1990, in
Chervonohrad a Lenin monument was demolished for the first time in the USSR. Under popular pressure the monument was dismantled, formally with the purpose of moving elsewhere. That same year, Lenin monuments were dismantled in Ternopil, Kolomyia, Nadvirna, Borislav, Drohobych, Lviv and other cities of
Galicia. In 1991, Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments. More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed between February 2014 and December 2015. On 15 May 2015,
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed this bill into law that started a six-month period for
the removal of communist monuments (excluding
World War II monuments) and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to
Communism. On 16 January 2017, the
Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization. A website "Raining Lenins" tracks the statistics of the fall of Lenin statues in Ukraine. In between the annexation of the
Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation and 28 September 2014, the largest Lenin monument at the unoccupied territory was standing in
Kharkiv (20.2 m high). This
statue of Lenin in Kharkiv was toppled and destroyed on 28 September 2014. In February 2019,
The Guardian reported that the two Lenin statues in the
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were the only two remaining statues of Lenin in Ukraine, if not taking into account
occupied territories of Ukraine. In January 2021
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty" located three more remaining Lenin statues in three (Ukrainian controlled) small villages. This increased the number of remaining Lenin statues to five. During the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, many of these statues of Lenin, which had been taken down by Ukrainian activists, were
re-erected by Russian occupiers in Russian-controlled areas. == Motivation ==