RAW UKRAINE RUSSIA CONFLICT VIDI33QG784
Metadata
- RAW UKRAINE RUSSIA CONFLICT VIDI33QG784
- August 1, 2023
- Workers remove a hammer and sickle from a gigantic sculptural figure that watches over the Ukrainian capital, as part of a campaign to remove Soviet symbols which has ramped up since Russia invaded last year. The 62-metre-high steel figure of a woman holding a sword and shield bearing the USSR-linked symbols was unveiled in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II. But since Russia's invasion, Ukraine doubled-down on the removal of references to Soviet history and Russian culture from geographical names, and a law on decolonisation came into force this summer. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES
- Language English
- Transcript/Script TITLE: RAW UKRAINE RUSSIA CONFLICT VIDI33QG784 HEADLINE: Ukraine removes hammer and sickle from giant Soviet-era Kyiv statue COMMENT: - Yuriy Savchuk, director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine - Oleksiy Pergamenshchyk, sculptor for the new trident emblem to replace the hammer and sickle KEYWORDS: Yuriy Savchuk, Oleksiy Pergamenshchyk, UKR, , Kyiv DESCRIPTION: Workers remove a hammer and sickle from a gigantic sculptural figure that watches over the Ukrainian capital, as part of a campaign to remove Soviet symbols which has ramped up since Russia invaded last year. The 62-metre-high steel figure of a woman holding a sword and shield bearing the USSR-linked symbols was unveiled in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II. But since Russia's invasion, Ukraine doubled-down on the removal of references to Soviet history and Russian culture from geographical names, and a law on decolonisation came into force this summer. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES =====SCRIPT TEXT DATA===== SHOTLIST KYIV, UKRAINE AUGUST 1, 2023 SOURCE: AFPTV IMAGES (01:32) 1. Aerial shot Motherland Monument in Kyiv 2. Aerial shot Motherland Monument in Kyiv 3. Wide shot Motherland Monument in Kyiv 4. Mid shot Motherland Monument in Kyiv 5. Mid shot Soviet emblem on shield of the Motherland Monument 6. Mid shot dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 7. Close-up dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 8. Mid shot dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 9. Close-up the dismantled element of the Soviet emblem is lowered to the ground 10. Wide shot the dismantled element of the Soviet emblem is lowered to the ground 11. Close-up the dismantled element of the Soviet emblem is lowered to the ground 12. Aerial shot dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 13. Close-up dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 14. Wide shot dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 15. Close-up dismantling of Soviet emblem from Kyiv Motherland Monument 16. Aerial shot dismantled elements of the Soviet emblem on the ground 17. Aerial shot Motherland Monument without Soviet symbols on the shield 18. SOUNDBITE 1 - Yuriy Savchuk, director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (male, Ukrainian, 30 sec): "Perhaps the emblem of the Soviet Union should have been replaced even before the full-scale invasion. But today the Russian-Ukrainian war brings fresh relevance to a lot of questions that were put off in the past." 19. SOUNDBITE 2 - Yuriy Savchuk, director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (male, Ukrainian, 25 sec): "The war is obviously also playing out on the cultural and informational front: it's a war for identity, for people's consciousness, for the opportunity to independently decide their own fate and be the master of their own home." 20. SOUNDBITE 3 - Yuriy Savchuk, director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (male, Ukrainian, 32 sec): "If we declare our move towards the West, European integration, the desire to become a NATO member, then I think that such things do not go well with each other. We must carry out de-communisation and replacing the shield is one of the main steps of that work." 21. SOUNDBITE 4 - Oleksiy Pergamenshchyk, sculptor for the new trident emblem to replace the hammer and sickle (male, English, 32 sec): "I think the statue is great, I don't understand people that say that it should be demolished because it's like the Soviet style, it's absolutely not Soviet style. It was made by two Ukrainians, great sculptors, Vuchetich and Borodai, and it doesn't look Soviet because Borodai made it in Greek dress." 22. SOUNDBITE 5 - Oleksiy Pergamenshchyk, sculptor for the new trident emblem to replace the hammer and sickle (male, English, 11 sec): "Actually Mother Ukraine is looking straight at the enemy holding the shield so it's very symbolic." /// ----------------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: lead 'War for identity': Kyiv pulls hammer, sickle from giant war WWII statue By Anna MALPAS =(Picture+Video)= ATTENTION - ADDS reax /// Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug 1, 2023 (AFP) - Workers lowered a hammer and sickle from a towering sculpture overlooking Kyiv on Tuesday in a campaign to remove Soviet icons that ramped up after Russia invaded last year. The 62-metre-high steel figure of a woman holding a sword and shield bearing the USSR-linked symbols was unveiled in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II. But since Russia's invasion, Ukraine doubled-down on the removal of references to Soviet history and Russian culture from geographical names, and a law on decolonisation came into force this summer. There are similarly massive war memorials in former Soviet cities like Volgograd in Russia and Brest in Belarus. The monument standing atop a war museum is known literally as the "Fatherland Mother" but there are now calls to rename the it Mother Ukraine. The culture ministry has meanwhile backed a plan to furnish the figure with a new shield bearing the country's trident emblem. The statue is part of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War and it is planned that the Soviet shield will go on display there. - 'Culture and information front' - "We're obliged to carry out de-communisation, and replacing the shield is one of the main steps of that work," the museum's director Yuriy Savchuk told AFP standing beneath the statue. He said the project fits with Ukraine's aspirations to move towards the West and become a member of NATO and that the work was part of an ideological war. "The war is obviously also playing out on the cultural and informational front: it's a war for identity, for people's consciousness," Savchuk said. Workers in a cradle suspended from the top of the shield have since last month been removing sheafs of wheat and ribbons from the Soviet emblem, lowering them on ropes. AFP on journalists on the scene saw them cutting around the hammer and sickle and lowering them to the ground after delays due to several air raid warnings. "Maybe this should have been done before the full-scale invasion... but today the Russian-Ukrainian war brings fresh relevance to a lot of questions that were put off in the past," Savchuk said. Replacing the shield is set to cost 28 million hryvnias ($758,000), although officials stress it will be paid for by donations and sponsorship, not state funds. The arts minister who had backed the project resigned last month amid official criticism of the cost of arts projects in wartime. But a survey commissioned by the culture ministry last year found 85 percent of Ukrainians backed removing the hammer and sickle. - 'Looking at the enemy' - Acting minister Rostislav Karandeyev hailed the project as an "essential element of our resistance in the ideological battle with our enemy," as he watched the work from the ground. He said the new shield should be in place by this month's national holidays: Ukraine's flag day on August 23 and independence day on August 24. The minister said that he expected the decision on renaming the statue "will be taken on a political level". Sculptor Oleksiy Pergamenshchyk, who created the trident emblem for the new shield, told AFP the removal of the symbols was a long time coming. "We can prove that we are a great nation and we are not afraid of anything, any challenges," he said. Pergamenshchyk studied under one of the original monument's sculptors, Vasyl Borodai, and dismissed calls for the monument itself to be removed due to its construction during the Soviet era. "It was made by two Ukrainian great sculptors, (Evgeniy) Vuchetych and Borodai, and it doesn't look Soviet because Borodai made it in Greek dress," Pergamenshchyk said. The new trident measures 7.60 metres in length and 4.56 metres in width, he said, adding the statue faces northward, away from the city. "Actually Mother Ukraine is looking right at the enemy, holding the shield, holding the sword, it's very symbolic," he said. am/jbr/gw -------------------------------------------------------------
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Rights See script for restrictions and source information.
- Network VOA
- Expiration Date August 31, 2023 13:02 EDT
- Embargo Date August 1, 2023 14:51 EDT
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America