I know, but the whole statue is a ww2 memorial to nearly 12,000 soldiers that fought and died for the soviet union against the nazis, the OUN and the UPA as part of the red army. Defacing the USSR's symbol on it is the defacement of part of the memorial to them and what they fought for. The famous saying "Slave Ukraini" that is currently popular is the formal greeting of the OUN/UPA which is specifically something these soldiers fought and died fighting against, thus my thinking that they may also remove the names and all links to it being a ww2 memorial.
Right but they're removing the thing that those people fought and died for. Which is why I wonder whether they're going to remove them as well. It is turning a soviet memorial to the dead that fought for the soviet union against the nazis into a symbol of ukrainian nationalism.
It seems like a terrible waste of resources too at this time to have labour going into this in the middle of a war instead of doing war construction, when the decommunisation law explicitly excludes and protects ww2 memorials from defacement. The only reason I can think of for doing this now while there is no political opposition is because it might be difficult to do later when a political opposition finally exists again.