[citation needed] The statue was composed of Lenin, gesturing towards the Kharkiv Regional Administration Building with his right hand and holding a crumpled cartouche in his left, atop a pedestal.

After the collapse of the USSR and restoration of the independence of Ukraine, many activists, politicians, and individuals called for the destruction of the sculpture, to remove a remnant of the totalitarian Soviet era in the area.

Groups of Kharkiv residents who identified themselves as the "St George's Ribbon" movement called for pro-Russian inhabitants and Anti-Maidan activists to defend the monument and organised round-the-clock protection.

[citation needed] Several months later, in the evening of 21 September 2014, Right Sector activists painted the monument and burned the St George's ribbons that remained there.

In addition, according to Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko,[9][12] law enforcement officers surrounded Freedom Square during the demolition of the monument to Lenin in order to prevent armed provocations.

On the basis of this order, the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov announced the termination of the criminal proceedings regarding the damage to the monument.

[15] On 29 September 2014, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Ihor Baluta noted that the fall of the monument did not damage the structure of the subway system.

Lenin's 35 kg ear from the monument was also put up for auction, and was exchanged for a thermal imager for the Kharkiv Territorial Defence Battalion.

[16] In November 2015, Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes officially admitted that because of Ukrainian decommunization laws, the statue of Lenin could not be rebuilt.

[1] Radio Free Europe reported that Kernes would be pushing for the building of a "modern fountain", similar to one that used to be located at the same spot as the toppled Lenin statue.

[18] On 8 August 2016, the First Deputy Mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, stated that "Nothing will be built in place of a Lenin monument, signifying the square's return to its original image.

[20] At its top, there was planned to be an angel with an Orthodox cross watching over four figures who somehow resonate with the history of Slobozhanshchina (Anacharsis, Igor Svyatoslavich, Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, and Mykhailo Petrenko).