Volodymyr Zelensky announces replacement for toppled Lenin monument

"A pedestal that once supported a Lenin monument in Kyiv that has remained empty ever since 2013 may soon host a statue of a Cossack leader Ivan Mazepa, who is revered by many in Ukraine as a national hero.
A 12-foot-tall red quartzite sculpture of Vladimir Lenin stood on the pedestal at the

intersection of two main roads in Kyiv for almost 60 years, until it was toppled during the Euromaidan Uprising. The Euromaidan demonstrations had begun the previous month when then-president Viktor Yanukovych declined to sign an agreement with the European Union, thereby strengthening the country's ties with Russia.
Over the weekend, during a speech commemorating Ukraine's Constitution Day, President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed that a bust of Mazepa should take the place of the toppled Lenin monument in Kyiv. Zelensky wrote on X that Mazepa, who served as head of the Cossack state from 1687 to 1709, deserves a full-fledged monument in the country's capital." msn