Which colossal statue in Kyiv, completed in 1981, is a female warrior holding a sword and shield?

The Motherland Monument in Kyiv is the colossal statue completed in 1981 that depicts a female warrior holding a sword and shield.

The monument stands above the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. It commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and was designed by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich with architect Vasyl Borodai.

The stainless-steel figure originally carried a sword that rose above the shield. The monument’s total height, including its pedestal, is 102 metres. In 2023, the Soviet hammer-and-sickle emblem on the shield was replaced by Ukraine’s trident, following approval by Ukrainian authorities.

The statue is sometimes confused with The Motherland Calls, another enormous Soviet war memorial in Volgograd, Russia. The Kyiv monument is also known by the Ukrainian name Batkivshchyna-Maty, meaning “Motherland.”