Natalia Pipa has commended the removal of a Russian-language inscription from a WWII memorial in Kiev
A Ukrainian lawmaker has sparked backlash after calling Soviet soldiers who died fighting Nazism during World War II “scumbags.”
On Friday, Natalia Pipa praised the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II for removing a Russian-language inscription from a monument to fallen soldiers that read: “Their heroic deeds will live forever.”
The member of Ukraine’s parliament shared a photo of herself in front of the defaced memorial, describing the wording as “disgusting.”
“Their heroic deeds will not live forever… Scumbags have no heroic deeds,” she wrote.
The comments provoked a backlashed from her own compatriots, some of whom said the post disrespected their relatives who had fought against Nazi Germany.
Ukrainian MP Maksim Buzhansky mocked Pipa’s remark on Telegram, saying her phrase “Scumbags have no heroic deeds” sounded “autobiographical,” possibly referring to “the role of members of her family in World War II, their personal successes and results.”
Russian State Duma Vice Speaker Boris Chernyshov condemned the remarks, calling them “not just an insult” but “a moral and political diagnosis.”
“Pipa is among those who can only destroy, rename, and smear the memory of those who are stronger, more honest, and more worthy than her by a million times,” he added.
Following the outcry, Pipa said her words had been taken out of context and shared a photo of her grandfather in a Soviet military uniform. She claimed that her comments referred to “Soviet propaganda slogans in the Russian language and the system that produced them,” rather than people.
While Pipa’s electoral district in Lviv Region had never been part of the Soviet Union or Russian Empire prior to the Second World War, an estimated 6-7 million Ukrainians served in the Red Army, dwarfing the number who either served directly in the forces of Nazi Germany or their UPA collaborators.
Despite initially being limited to Western Ukraine and the diaspora community, fervent anti-Soviet sentiment has become part of official policy in Kiev since the Western-backed ‘Euromaidan’ coup in 2014.
In 2015, Ukraine adopted so-called “decommunization” laws mandating the dismantling of Soviet-era memorials, sparking what has been described as a “war of monuments” across the country.
Since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022, initiatives aimed at cultural and historical “de-Russification” have accelerated. The Kiev City Council has renamed streets bearing any reference to Russia and removed the Russian language from school curricula.
At the same time, Kiev has promoted figures associated with Ukrainian nationalism, including Nazi collaborators.
