Apparently no charges to be brought re Lenin tonight in Kharkiv, according to @AvakovArsen, who says, "Let him fall" https://t.co/Rt0PslN3A3
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2014
RFE/RL's news desk has now issued this update on the fate of the Lenin statue in Kharkiv at the hands of a pro-Kyiv crowd of protesters:
Demonstrators in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have cut down a statue of Vladimir Lenin.
The towering, 20-meter monument to Lenin on Kharkiv's Freedom Square was attacked shortly after a pro-Ukrainian unity march by thousands of people was held in Ukraine's second-largest city.
Men used ladders to access the statue and saw off Lenin at the legs.
Hundreds of people were standing near the statue watching as the statue was taken down. No police were present.
Activists had earlier used a jackhammer to carve "Glory to Ukraine!" into the base of the statue.
Kharkiv, which is some 20 kilometers from the Russian border, was the scene in March and April of violent clashes between pro-Russian demonstrators and Ukrainians loyal to Kyiv.
Pro-Russian separatists in Kharkiv have defended Lenin's statue during previous attempts to remove it.
(Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Leninopad: catalogue of pulled down of Lenins. (v @obk and @maxseddon). Also massive database of global Lenins. http://t.co/XPqar2aiRY
— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) September 28, 2014
The moment Lenin fell in #Kharkiv, #Ukraine tonight https://t.co/u1egD3ILss
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 28, 2014
As far as I can remember, he actually said "there are weeks where decades happen," but I guess the sentiment is clear:
Lenin: "There are decades where nothing happens and there are days where decades happen" MT @ChristopherJM: #Kharkiv pic.twitter.com/cLl4pSRooO"
— Sławomir Dębski (@SlawomirDebski) September 28, 2014
In my 1980s Soviet childhood Lenin was a joke - the Morkovkin (carrot man). The destruction of his statues makes him a potent idol again.
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) September 28, 2014
The Lenin statue torn down in #Kharkiv was biggest in Ukraine at 20m. Police asked protestors not to do it, but yeah http://t.co/tTyCkQvyPk
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) September 28, 2014
Report from the "Orwellian" rally in Moscow to support eastern Ukraine rebels in response to last week's peace march http://t.co/qTqayz2CMO
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) September 28, 2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has issued this rough footage of the moment the Lenin statue came down in Kharkiv. The actual toppling takes place around the 2:15 mark (natural sound, no subtitles):
We are now closing our live blog on what has ended up being a rather eventful day in Kharkiv. We'll be back tomorrow with all the reaction to the symbolically significant toppling of a Lenin statue in Ukraine's second-largest city. In the meantime, you can keep up with all our ongoing Ukraine coverage here.