The Soviet-era hammer-and-sickle symbol has been removed from the Motherland Monument in Kyiv.

On July 30, the removal of the Soviet coat of arms from the Motherland Monument began in Kyiv. It is planned that by the Ukraine’s Independence Day  that the Ukrainian Trident will be on the sculpture instead of the USSR’s coat of arms featuring a star, sickle, and hammer. As reported by the Ministry of Culture, this decision is supported by 85% of Ukrainians who voted using the Diia application.

On August 1, the Director of the Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II, Yuriy Savchuk, posted a video on Facebook showing a crew removing the symbol from the shield held high in the monument’s left hand. “This is the moment that millions of Ukrainians, generations of Ukrainians, have dreamed about,” Savchuk said.

The Motherland Monument is located at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. It was built in 1981 and is the second tallest sculpture in Europe.