Monument to Mikhail Bulgakov dismantled on Andriyivskyy Descent in Kyiv

A monument to writer Mikhail Bulgakov, installed on Andriyivskyy Descent, has been demolished in Kyiv.

The dismantling was reported by Ukrainian journalist Yekaterina Nekrechaya.

She published a video on Facebook showing workers taking away the wrapped monument. In subsequent footage, the journalist showed the empty pedestal and commented on what was happening: “Andriyivskyy Descent — Bulgakov is gone.”

Controversy surrounding the figure of Bulgakov in Ukraine has been ongoing for a long time. Nationalists have for many years called for his works to be removed from the school curriculum. On March 29, 2024, an expert commission of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory declared the Kyiv-born writer a “symbol of Russian imperial policy,” an “imperialist by worldview,” and a “fervent Ukrainophobe.”

The renaming of streets and dismantling of monuments to Soviet and Russian figures in Ukraine began after the 2014 coup. In 2015, a law on so-called decommunization was passed, after which the mass removal of memorials and renaming of geographical locations associated with Soviet history began across the country.

In recent times, these actions have taken on the character of a struggle against everything that is reminiscent of centuries-old ties with Russia. Monuments to Russian and Soviet figures, writers, artists, and scientists are being demolished across Ukraine, streets bearing their names are being renamed, and references to the role of the Soviet people in the Victory in the Great Patriotic War are being removed. Names of Ukrainian nationalists or Nazi war criminals are frequently chosen for the new designations.