Decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

in Ukraine started during the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991 and expanded afterwards. Following the 2014

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

and beginning of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, the

Ukrainian government The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed on 18 April 1991, by the Law ...

approved

laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

that banned communist symbols, as well as symbols of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

as both ideologies were deemed to be

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

. On 15 May 2015, President

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

signed a set of laws that started a six-month period for the removal of Soviet communist monuments (excluding

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

monuments) and renaming of public places that had been named after Soviet communists. At the time, this meant that 22 cities and 44 villages were set to get new names. Until 21 November 2015, municipal governments had the authority to implement this; if they failed to do so, the

oblasts An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

had until 21 May 2016 to change the names. If the settlement still kept its old name, the

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state Executive (government), executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republi ...

could give a new name to the settlement."Komsomolsk in any case be renamed"
'' depo.ua'' (1 October 2015) Violation of the law carries a penalty of a potential media ban and prison sentences of up to five years."Ukraine lawmakers ban 'Communist and Nazi propaganda
''

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

'' (9 April 2015)"New laws in Ukraine potential threat to free expression and free media, OSCE Representative says"
''

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

'' (18 May 2015) In the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

reported that the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. In 2002 it held a "unifi ...

had been helping pro-Russian separatists and Russian proxy forces in the country. In July 2015, the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

stripped the Communist Party, the Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed), and the Communist Party of Workers and Peasants of their right to participate in elections and stated it was continuing court actions to end the registration of communist parties in Ukraine. By December 2015, these parties had been banned, for involvement in violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, inciting a violent overthrow of the state, and supporting Russian proxy forces. The Communist Party of Ukraine appealed the ban to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

. By 2016, 51,493 streets and 987 cities and villages were renamed (with either the restoration of their historic names or new names), and 1,320 Lenin monuments and 1,069 monuments to other communist figures removed."Decommunization reform: 25 districts and 987 populated areas in Ukraine renamed in 2016"
''

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of Independence decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

process started in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

after the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the following independence of Ukraine in 1991. Decommunization was carried out much more ruthlessly and visibly in the former Soviet Union's

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

and

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

countries outside the Soviet Union. Ukraine's first president after the country's 1991 independence from the

Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (, ; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed the Lisbon Protocol, undertaking to give up Ukrai ...

, had also issued orders aimed at " de-sovietisation" in the early 1990s. In the following years, although at a slow rate, historical monuments to Soviet leaders were removed in Ukraine. This process went on much further in the Ukrainian-speaking

western regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in Ancient Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of the Yumen Pass, most often the Tarim Basin in prese ...

than in the industrialised, largely Russian-speaking eastern regions. Decommunization laws were drafted in the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2013, but they all failed to materialize.Ukrainian PM leads charge to erase Soviet history

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

(27 April 2015)

Post-Euromaidan reforms

During and after

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

, starting with the fall of the monument to Lenin in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

on 8 December 2013, several Lenin monuments and statues were removed or destroyed by protesters. In April 2014, a year before the formal, nationwide decommunization process in Ukraine, local authorities removed and altered communist symbols and place names, as in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed legislation on decommunization. It was submitted by the

Second Yatsenyuk Government The second Yatsenyuk government was created in Ukraine after the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. On 2 December 2014, 288 People's Deputy of Ukraine, members (of the 423 Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

totalitarian regimes". One of the main provisions of the bill was the recognition of the

's regime as "criminal" and one that "pursued a state terror policy". The legislation prohibits the use of communist symbols and propaganda and also bans all symbols and propaganda of

national-socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

and its values and any activities of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

groups in Ukraine. The ban applies to monuments, place and street names. The ban does not apply to

monuments and when symbols are located in a cemetery. Expressing pro-communist views was not made illegal. The ban on communist symbols did result in the removal of hundreds of statues, the replacement of street signs and the renaming of populated places including some of Ukraine's biggest cities like

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. The city administration of

estimated in June 2015 that 80 streets, embankments, squares, and boulevards would have to be renamed. Maxim Eristavi of

Hromadske.TV hromadske (; lit. ''Public'') is an independent online media in Ukraine. The station was announced in June 2013 by 15 journalists, before commencing operations on 22 November 2013. It is registered as an NGO.Ukrainian independence Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publi ...

" from 1917 to 1991 (the lifespan of the Soviet Union). The same day, the parliament also passed a law that replaced the term "

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

" in the national

lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...

with "

" from 1939 to 1945 (instead of 1941–45 as is the case with the "Great Patriotic War"), a change of great significance. On 15 May 2015,

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

signed the Decommunisation Laws.Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization

Ukrainska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

. 15 May 2015
Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

. 15 May 2015 This started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and renaming of public places named after communist-related themes. The Ukrainian decommunization law applies, but is not limited to: * the

Flag of the Soviet Union The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also simply known as the Soviet flag or the Red Banner, was a Red flag (politics), red flag with two Communist symbolism, communist symbols displayed in the Canton (flag), canton: a gold ...

* the flags of the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

and of the 14 other republics of the Soviet Union, as well as the flags of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and abroad * the

State Emblem of the Soviet Union The State Emblem of the Soviet Union was the official symbol of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adopted in 1923 and used until the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the state in 1991. Although it technically is an emblem ...

and its constituent republics as well as the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and abroad * the

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original ...

and the

republics A republic, based on the Latin phrase '' res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although ...

* the

Red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

* the

Hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...

* images bearing the likeness of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

, and

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

* military uniforms The laws were published in on 20 May 2015; this made them come into force officially the next day. On 3 June 2015, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory published a list of 22 cities and 44 villages subject to renaming. By far most of these places were in the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

region in East Ukraine; the others were situated in

Central Ukraine Central Ukraine (, ) consists of historical regions of left-bank Ukraine and right-bank Ukraine that reference to the Dnieper River. It is situated away from the Black Sea Littoral North and a midstream of the Dnieper River and its basin. The ...

and

South Ukraine Southern Ukraine (, ) refers, generally, to the territories in the South of Ukraine. The territory usually corresponds with the Soviet economical district, the Southern Economical District of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The region ...

.In Ukraine rename 22 cities and 44 villages

(4 June 2015) Under the ''Decommunisation Laws'' the municipal governments had until 21 November 2015 to change the name of the settlement they govern. For settlements that failed to rename, the provincial authorities had until 21 May 2016 to change the name. If after that date the settlement still retained its old name the

renamed the settlement. In a 24 July 2015 decree based on the decommunization laws, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stripped the

, Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and Communist Party of Workers and Peasants of their right to participate in elections and it stated it was continuing the court actions (that started in July 2014) to end the registration of Ukraine's communist parties. On 30 September 2015, the District Administrative Court in Kyiv banned the parties Communist Party of Workers and Peasants and Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed); they both did not appeal. In October 2015, a statue of Lenin in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

was converted into a statue of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' villain

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

. On 16 December 2015, the Kyiv District Administrative Court validated the claim of the Ministry of Justice in full, banning the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine. The party appealed this ban at the

. In March 2016, statues of Lenin,

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

Sergey Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russ ...

and a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

monument were removed or taken down in the eastern city of

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...

. The statue overlooking the

Dnieper Hydroelectric Station The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (), also known as the Dnipro Dam, is a hydroelectric power station in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Operated by Ukrhydroenergo, it is the fifth and largest station in the Dnieper reservoir cascade, a s ...

(formerly named Lenin Dam) was the largest remaining Lenin statue in Ukraine. On 19 May 2016, the Ukrainian parliament voted to rename Ukraine's fourth-largest city

to "Dnipro". The renaming of various locations was signed into the law on 20 May 2016. The Ukrainian parliament declared in July 2016 that the new names of places in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, under full Russian control since the

2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrain ...

, "will enter force with the return of temporarily occupied territory of the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

under the general

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

of Ukraine." In May 2017, 46 Ukrainian MPs, mainly from the Opposition Bloc faction, appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to declare the 2015 decommunization laws unconstitutional.
Director of the

Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINM, ), also translated as the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, is the central executive body operating under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Established on 31 May 2006 as a special org ...

Volodymyr Viatrovych stated in February 2018 that "De-communism in the context of depriving the symbols of the totalitarian regime has actually been completed".De-communism in Ukraine is actually completed - Vyatrovich

(10 February 2018) Although according to him the city of

was lagging behind. In February 2019, the

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (, commonly abbreviated as , ); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of th ...

refused to register the candidacy of (leader of Communist Party)

Petro Symonenko Petro Mykolayovych Symonenko (; born 1 August 1952) is a Ukrainian politician and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Symonenko was the party's candidate in the 1999 and 2004, 2010, and until his with ...

for the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. As none of the 39 candidates on the ballot received an absolute majority of the initial vote, a runoff was held on 21 April between the top two vote-getters: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a t ...

due to the fact that the statute, name and symbolism of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not comply with the 2015 decommunization laws.The CEC refused to register nearly fifty presidential candidates

(8 February 2019) Symonenko appealed the decision, but the court of appeal confirmed decision of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. It was proposed that the oblast of Dnipropetrovsk would be renamed to "Sicheslav". On 16 July 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine upheld the 2015 Ukrainian decommunization laws. On 7 November 2020 in the village Mala Rohan, an Emblem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was dismantled from the facade of a school.

Reforms following the Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 27 April 2022 (during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

), the Soviet-era bronze statue under the People's Friendship Arch in Kyiv, representing Russian–Ukrainian friendship, was removed by order of Mayor of Kyiv

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Soviet emblem was removed from the Motherland Monument (part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War) in Kyiv. Its replacement, the Ukrainian Trident, was fully installed on 23 August 2023 (the day before

Independence Day of Ukraine Independence Day of Ukraine (, ) is a public holidays in Ukraine, state holiday in Ukraine, celebrated on 24 August in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Declaration of Independence of 1991. History When Ukraine was st ...

). The monument was also renamed to ''Mother Ukraine''. On 24 October 2023

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

signed Law No. 8263 that abolished the concept of

urban-type settlements in Ukraine Urban-type settlement () was a type of administrative division for urban-like human settlements in Ukraine from 24 October 1925 through 26 January 2024. Following the reform, this type of settlement was reduced to rural status and all urban-type s ...

. Law No. 8263 was meant to facilitate "de-Sovietization of the procedure for solving certain issues of the administrative and territorial system of Ukraine." On 30 January 2024, the governor of

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

said that the region was the first in Ukraine to remove all of its communist-era monuments.

Criticism

On 18 May 2015, the

expressed concern that the laws could negatively impact the freedom of the press in Ukraine. The OSCE also regretted what it perceived as a lack of opportunity of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPG) is one of the oldest and most active Ukrainian human rights organizations. As a legal entity, it was established in 1992, but it has been working as a human rights protection group in the Ukrain ...

stated (in May 2015) the laws "(one of which) effectively criminalizes public expression of views held by many

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

". On 18 December 2015, the

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

stated that Ukraine's

decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

laws did not comply with European legislative standards. It was in particular critical about the banning of communist parties.Ukraine's law on 'decommunisation' does not comply with EU standards – Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR

(19 December 2015) In April 2015, Russian lawmakers claimed that it was "

cynical Cynicism is an attitude characterized by a general distrust of the motives of others. A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic p ...

" to put

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and

symbol on par with each other, and Russian-backed paramilitaries have condemned the law. The then leader and head of the self-proclaimed

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

Alexander Zakharchenko Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko (26 June 1976 – 31 August 2018) was a Ukrainian separatist leader who was the Russia-installed head of state and prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed state and Russian-backed ...

stated in late February 2016 that when renamed cities "return under our jurisdiction", they would be renamed to their pre-decommunized name. In his February 2022 Address concerning the events in Ukraine, Putin claimed that Ukraine's decommunization does not make any sense because "modern Ukraine was created by communist Russia, and specifically Lenin". Vitaly Chervonenko from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

noted how carefully Putin kept silent about the independent Ukrainian state formations of 1917–1920 and Kyiv's war with Lenin's Bolshevik government, whose purpose was to include Ukraine in Bolshevik Russia.

Results

Since 16 December 2015 three communist parties are banned in Ukraine (the

, Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and Communist Party of Workers and Peasants). The only party that appealed this ban was the Communist Party of Ukraine; this resulted in the court's decision to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine did not come into force. However, the April 2015 decommunization law contains a norm that allows the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

to prohibit the Communist Party from participating in elections. Ukraine had 5,500 Lenin monuments in 1991, declining to 1,300 by December 2015.Out of Sight

The Ukrainian Week ''The Ukrainian Week'' (, ) is an illustrated weekly magazine and news outlet covering politics, economics and the arts and aimed at the socially engaged Ukrainian-language reader. It provides a range of analysis, opinion, interviews, feature p ...

(28 December 2015) More than 700 Lenin monuments were removed and/or destroyed from February 2014 (when 376 came down) to December 2015. On 16 January 2017 the

announced that 1,320 Lenin monuments were dismantled during decommunization.Dekomunizuvaly monuments to Lenin in 1320, Bandera set 4

(16 January 2017)
With 50 Thousand Renamed Objects Place Names, Only 34 Are Named After Bandera
,

(16 January 2017) On 16 January 2017, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance stated that 51,493 streets, squares and "other facilities" had been renamed due to decommunization. By June 2016 there were renamed 19 raions, 27 urban districts, 29 cities, 48 urban-type settlements, 119 rural settlements and 711 villages. The fourth largest city was renamed from Dnipropetrovsk to

. In the second-largest city of Ukraine,

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, more than 200 streets, 5 administrative

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s, 4 parks and 1 metro station had been renamed by early February 2016. In all of 2016, 51,493 streets and 987 cities and villages were renamed, 25 raions were renamed and 1,320 Lenin monuments and 1,069 monuments to other communist figures removed. In some villages Lenin statues were remade into "non-communist historical figures" to save money. One of the most prominent examples was Lenin monument in

, which was remade into the monument to

. In February 2019, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported that the two Lenin statues in the

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, also called the 30-Kilometre Zone or simply The Zone, was established shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Initially, Soviet authorities declar ...

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 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

"'' located three remaining Lenin statues in three (Ukrainian controlled) small villages. In January 2021, 24 Ukrainian streets were still named after former Russian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and current

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

member of the Russian

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, member of the State Duma, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first Women in space, woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. S ...

(6 of them in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia), according to the 2015 decommunization laws they should have been renamed.Where does Valentina Tereshkova Street lead?
LB.ua (6 January 2021) They were renamed in 2022. The last Lenin statue in Ukraine (excluding territories currently annexed by Russia or occupied by separatists) was demolished in Stari Troyany,

Izmail Raion Izmail Raion (; ; ) is a raion (administrative division) in Odesa Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is the town of Izmail. It is in the historical region of Budjak in southern Bessarabia. Population: On 18 July 2020, as ...

Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...

on 27 January 2021. The director of the

Volodymyr Viatrovych stated in February 2018 that the then-still existing Soviet hammer and sickle on the shield of the Motherland Monument in

should be removed to comply with the country's decommunization laws and replace it with the Ukrainian trident, which was subsequently done in 2023. During the

, many Lenin statues across Ukraine, which had been taken down by the Ukrainians in the preceding years, were re-erected by the Russians in the Russian-controlled areas.

Polling

A November 2016 poll, showed that 48% of respondents supported a ban on Communist ideology in Ukraine, 36% were against it and 16% were undecided. It also showed that 41% of respondents supported the initiative to dismantle all monuments to Lenin in the country, whereas 48% were against it and 11% were undecided. As of 8 April 2022, according to a poll by the sociological group ''Rating'', 76% of

support the initiative to rename streets and other objects whose names are associated with the

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

after the

Notes

References

External links

Interactive map of settlements that need to be renamed
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Decommunization In Ukraine 2015 in Ukraine 2016 in Ukraine Anti-communism in Ukraine

Euromaidan Human rights in Ukraine Political history of Ukraine Politics of Ukraine Ukrainian nationalism