Statue of Ivan Pidkova

Cossacks welcomed recruits from far and wide. This is a statue of the Cossack leader Ivan Pidkova in Lviv, Ukraine who died in 1578. He had originally been a Moldovan. The wording of the stone plinth refers to Pidkova's leadership of multi-ethnic bands consisting of Ukrainians, Russians, Moldovans and others. The reference to 'Russians' has been crudely filled in, a reflection of Russian-Ukrainiain tensions, felt particularly in the fiercely nationalist Ukrainian-speaking Lviv area. Much of the rest of Ukraine still speaks Russian.