Ukrainians topple Lenin statue in Kharkiv

KIEV – INTERNATIONAL – A large crowd gathered in the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv on Sunday (September 28) to witness the toppling of a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. The statue of Lenin, the largest one in Ukraine, was pulled down by ropes in front of a jubilant crowd waving Ukrainian flag and singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

While the Ukraine has not been leading the news recently, as focus has shifted to the ongoing fight in Syria and Iraq, the struggles are continuing between Russia and the Ukraine.

The act of toppling the statue, was one of the many in a series which started in Kiev in December 2013, during the pro-European protests in Kiev. Kharkiv was one of the several Eastern Ukrainian cities in which that pro-Russian activists tried to organize anti-Ukrainian movement earlier this year, but didn’t succeed.

In Kharkiv the pro-Russian movement was effectively neutralized both by authorities and local citizens, who saw the demolition of yet another symbol of totalitarian communists regime as another step away from Russia and their communist past.

VIDEO by Reuters