Creative LGBT+ activists in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv have used drones to vastly improve a Soviet-era monument.

Like Pride parades around the world, the annual Kyiv Pride march – which has previously drawn violent far-right counter-protesters – has been cancelled in 2020 due to coronavirus.

With LGBT+ people prevented from marching through the streets, on Sunday activists from Kyiv Pride decided to do the next best thing – and take to the skies of the city instead.

LGBT+ activists used a drone to give an old Kyiv statute new meaning.

The enterprising activists used a drone to carry a giant rainbow flag to the top of the controversial Motherland Monument – a large steel statue of a symbolic mother holding a sword and shield, erected in 1981 as part of a Soviet Union propaganda blitz.

The drone was manoeuvred in front of sword, giving the impression that the mother is in fact waving a rainbow flag above the city.

Kyiv Pride shared the video on Facebook with the hashtag #momwillunderstandandsupport, adding: “Mother for equality for everyone!”

One supporter wrote: “The message is beautiful – the mother will always protect.”

Of course, plenty of homophobes flooded the group’s social media in response to the stunt, branding LGBT+ people “degenerates” and calling for the activists to be arrested for “degrading” the monument.

However, others rose to defend it, arguing: “How is a symbol under which millions of people were repressed and murdered less disgusting than a flag under which people are fighting for their rights?”

As well as flying atop the statue, the drone also flew the rainbow flag high above Kyiv, with the group teasing: “Throughout the day, don’t forget to look up! We will delight you with messages in the most unpredictable places.”