Vladimir Lenin monument, Kyiv

The Vladimir Lenin monument in Kyiv was a statue dedicated to Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The larger than life-size (3.45 meters [11.32 feet]) Lenin monument was built by Russian sculptor Sergey Merkurov from the same red Karelian stone as Lenin's Mausoleum. It was displayed at the 1939 New York World's Fair and erected on Kyiv's main Khreshchatyk Street (at the intersection of Shevchenko Boulevard, opposite the Bessarabsky Market) on 5 December 1946.

The statue was toppled from its pedestal and crushed by protesters on 8 December 2013, as part of the Euromaidan events, when many other Soviet statues were toppled. The plinth remains in place,^[1] and has become at times a site of political artwork, and arguments.^[2] Since 2016 various sculptures or installations have been exhibitioned in front of the plinth.^[1]

Since 2015 (all) monuments connected with communist themes and/or persons are illegal in Ukraine.^[3]