Ukraine Replaces Soviet-Era Symbols With National Trident On Motherland Monument In Kyiv

Ukraine’s national trident was installed on a monument that depicts the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday.

Ukraine’s national trident was installed on a monument that depicts the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday. ( Image Source :Getty )

Ukraine’s national trident was installed on a monument that depicts the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday, replacing the Soviet-era emblem. The monument is a 62-metre-tall statue of a female warrior. The figure holds a sword in her right hand and a shield in her left. The monument was built in 1981 on top of a hill on the right bank of the Dnipro River, as reported by Reuters.

The shield had originally carried the Soviet Union’s coat of arms - a crossed hammer and sickle surrounded by ears of wheat, as per the news agency. The workers had removed parts of the coat of arms in July. They began installing a trident on the shield on Saturday but failed to complete the work due to bad weather and an air attack on Kyiv, Reuters reported.

The move stems from a movement stepped up by Ukraine since Russia's invasion last year to shed memories of the former Soviet Union. Kyiv has said that the invasion seems to be an imperial mission to recreate the Soviet Union. In 2014, during the first revolution, protesters brought down statues of Vladimir Lenin. According to Reuters, Ukraine banned Soviet symbols in 2015 after Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatist proxies in the country’s east.

Meanwhile, Moscow promised retaliation a day after a Ukrainian sea drone hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea, reported the Associated Press. Through the attack, Ukraine hit a major sea port for Russia. Moscow strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” on the civilian vessel in the Kerch Strait, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated as per Associated Press. Zakharova told the news agency that there was “no justification for such barbaric actions” and further said that they “will not go unanswered” and perpetrators will be punished. 

The Black Sea is turning into an important battleground as Kyiv’s naval capabilities continue to grow. On Saturday, a Ukrainian marine drone carrying explosives weakened a Russian fuel tanker overnight near a bridge connecting Russia to Crimea, the report added. Although no one was injured in the attack, the Crimea Bridge and boat service were shut down for hours, according to Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as per the AP.

However, a Kremlin-installed official in Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov said that several members of the crew sustained injuries from shattered glass. He also said that the SIG tanker had been transporting oil to Russian forces in Syria, the AP stated in its report.

Ukrainian intelligence said that the drone carrying 450 kg of explosives struck the SIG vessel when it was transporting fuel for the Russian troops in Ukrainian territorial waters.

This attack comes three weeks after Moscow withdrew from the key export agreement which allowed Ukrainian ships to transport millions of tons of grain across the Black Sea for sale in the world markets. In the wake of the withdrawal, Russia carried of repeated strikes on Ukrainian ports including, Odesa.

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