Statue of Pushkin in Odesa designated as the main object for removal in Ukraine
The "Decolonization. Ukraine" project has identified the statue of Alexander Pushkin on Primorsky Boulevard in Odesa as the main object for removal in the country. The list also includes monuments to Russian writers, imperial officials, and Soviet military leaders. A total of seven monuments are on the list.
The "Decolonization. Ukraine" project has compiled a list of objects that are to be removed as part of the cleansing of public space from imperial and Soviet symbols. The statue of Alexander Pushkin on Primorsky Boulevard in Odesa is at the top of this list.
The list also includes the monument to Governor-General Mikhail Vorontsov on Sobornaya Square, the monument to Alexander Pushkin near his memorial museum on Pushkinskaya Street, the monument to writer Leo Tolstoy on the same-named square, the monument to Soviet General Mikhail Chernyakhovsky, the statue of Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, and the monument to writer Isaac Babel.
According to activists, Odesa remains a city with the highest number of monuments still dedicated to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The initiators of the project emphasize that removing imperial and Soviet markers from the toponymy and the architectural face of Ukrainian cities is a fundamental step during the war.