The plinth at the end of Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Kyiv, vacant since the removal of a Lenin statue in 2013, is poised to gain a new occupant: Ivan Mazepa, an 18th-century Cossack military and political leader. The proposal, announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in June, seeks to replace the Soviet-era monument with a figure celebrated for breaking from Moscow and advocating for Ukrainian independence.
The Lenin statue was toppled and destroyed during Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution, which culminated in the ouster of a pro-Russian government. Since regaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has pursued a policy of “decommunisation,” removing Soviet monuments and renaming places to assert a distinct national identity. This process accelerated after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014, intensifying further following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Mazepa’s legacy remains complex. While initially a loyal ally of Russian Tsar Peter the Great, Mazepa shifted allegiance to Sweden in 1708 after Peter declined to defend Ukrainian territories. Scholars like Nataliia Kryvda, a cultural history professor at Taras Shevchenko National University, note that Mazepa is a “contradictory” figure who played a pivotal role in shaping a Ukrainian identity separate from Russia’s imperial narrative. Kryvda supports the monument plan, emphasizing that cultures need commemorative symbols to embody collective memory, although she questions whether the plinth is the appropriate site.
President Zelenskyy has characterized centuries of Russian portrayals of Mazepa as attempts to depict him as a traitor and to frame Ukrainian history through a Russian lens. This narrative, Zelenskyy argues, has obscured Ukraine’s independent historical trajectory. The initiative to highlight Ukrainian figures is part of a broader effort to reclaim national identity “without mediators,” as writer and human rights advocate Alim Aliev described. Aliev also noted that figures associated with Russian imperialism, such as poet Alexander Pushkin, have been removed from public spaces, while Ukrainian dissident Vasyl Stus will soon appear on the national currency.
The reevaluation of historical figures extends beyond Mazepa. Last month, Kyiv authorities dismantled a statue of Russian-born writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who spent much of his life in Kyiv but is seen by some as emblematic of imperial Russian perspectives. The Bulgakov Museum remains open, with its director Liudmyla Habianuri acknowledging the writer’s complex legacy. Habianuri suggested that Russia’s ongoing war has compelled Ukrainians to reconsider their cultural affiliations, especially for Russian-speaking citizens confronted with the conflict. She also warned of a growing tendency to simplify historical narratives, though she supported the removal of the Lenin statue.
The Mazepa bust now stands near the Perchersk Lavra, a historic monastery recently damaged by Russian drone strikes amid the ongoing conflict. Mazepa, known for sponsoring the baroque renovation of the Dormition Cathedral within the monastery complex, symbolizes a cultural and political heritage that Ukraine is actively reclaiming. Visitors such as Olena Polishchuk, who relocated from the United Kingdom after the invasion, regard the commemoration as a meaningful recognition of an important national figure.
The decision to install Mazepa’s statue on this symbolic plinth illustrates Ukraine’s broader efforts to assert sovereignty over its history amid ongoing hostilities, reflecting a nation reshaping its identity in the face of external aggression.