Soviet imagery during the Russo-Ukrainian War

For Russia, in particular, these displays are also part of a broader campaign to de-legitimize Ukrainian statehood and justify annexations of the country's territory, as was the case with Crimea in March 2014 and with southeastern Ukraine in September 2022.

In occupied Ukraine, alongside the Soviet flag, the Russian military has frequently flown the Victory Banner, which was raised by the Red Army at the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.

Soviet symbols are illegal in Ukraine, and displaying them is also widely regarded as a provocative act in the other post-Soviet states, excluding Russia and Belarus, which has been involved in the Russian invasion.

[1] American historian Anne Applebaum told The Guardian that: "Because modern Russia stands for nothing except corruption, nihilism, and Putin's personal power, they have brought back Soviet flags as well as Lenin statues to symbolise Russian victory.

[3][4] During the Euromaidan in 2013 and 2014, many monuments dedicated to the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin were removed, and this process was accelerated during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 and again after the passing of Ukrainian decommunization laws in 2015.

[9] Nonetheless, in Russia, murals, postcards, street art, billboards, chevrons, and stickers depicting the woman have been created and displayed in public,[10][11] and a statue of her was unveiled in Russian-occupied Mariupol.