of Ukraine in "Khreschatyi" Park () which at the time of opening was called the Pioneer Park. Dismantling On 20 May 2016, the Ukrainian government announced plans to dismantle the arch as part of its decommunization laws. In its place, a memorial dedicated to veterans of the Russo-Ukrainian War was planned. The Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych stated in February 2018, that "a sculptural group" of the monument should be removed according to the decommunization laws. For the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, the arch was temporarily painted as a rainbow and renamed the Arch of Diversity. It doubled as the symbol of the Kyiv Pride parade, and was illuminated as a rainbow at night. In 2018, human rights activists put a temporary sticker on the arch that looked like a crack. This was a sign of support for political prisoners who are illegally detained in Russia and annexed Crimea. According to the organizers, the action aims to draw attention to the fate of Ukrainian citizens, as well as to urge everyone to make as much effort as possible to free political prisoners in Russia. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 25 April 2022, mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, announced the dismantling of the sculptural part of the monument as having lost its ideological meaning. The next day, during the dismantling of a bronze sculptural group, the head of a figure symbolizing a Russian fell off. The second sculptural composition made of red granite will be taken apart later. The arch itself is planned to be renamed and highlighted with the color of the Ukrainian flag. Klitschko proposed to the Kyiv City Council to rename the arch of the People's Friendship Arch into the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People (). One of the designers of the monument, Serhiy Myrhorodsky, agreed with the dismantling of the monument. The People's Friendship Arch was one of 60 monuments that the Kyiv City Council planned (in April 2022) to remove. On 14 May 2022, according to the decision of the Kyiv City Council, it was named the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian people. Gallery See also Derussification in Ukraine Decommunization in Ukraine Afghanistan War Memorial, Kyiv Valerii Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium References External links Kiev City Guide — Statues and monuments of Kyiv City www.go2kiev.com — places to see in Kyiv 1500th anniversary of Kyiv 1982 sculptures