The Lviv City Council has authorized the reburial of Soviet soldiers from the Hill of Glory.

The Executive Committee of the Lviv City Council, during its meeting on Tuesday, January 14, approved the relocation of the Memorial Complex Hill of Glory, which involves the exhumation of over 200 graves and their transfer to the Holosko Cemetery. Among the graves to be moved are the remains of NKVD agent Nikolai Kuznetsov and Major Stepan Putin.

The customer for the work has been designated as LKP "Lychakiv Cemetery." According to the executive committee's affairs manager, Yevhen Boyko, the elements of the monument will first be relocated, after which Soviet burials will be researched and exhumed. This includes 200 individual graves, four mass graves, and two graves of Heroes of the Soviet Union – NKVD agent Nikolai Kuznetsov and Major Stepan Putin.

Additionally, in early December 2024, the Ministry of Culture granted permission for the relocation of the Hill of Glory memorial complex in Lviv. Yevhen Boyko stated that the exhumed remains of Soviet soldiers will be reburied in a specially designated area of Holosko Cemetery, following Christian traditions.

The Hill of Glory is a memorial complex in Lviv where Russian and Soviet soldiers who died during World War I and World War II are buried. The memorial complex is located at the beginning of Pasichna Street and is part of the Lychakiv Cemetery reserve. In April 2022, the Soviet symbols were dismantled at the Hill of Glory, and in November 2023, the sculptures of Soviet soldiers were removed.

It should be noted that Nikolai Kuznetsov was an NKVD agent and a Hero of the Soviet Union. His relatives have repeatedly demanded that the Lviv City Council transfer his remains for reburial in Yekaterinburg. However, the executive committee has consistently refused to allow the reburial due to Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in Russia and temporarily occupied territories. There have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to steal Nikolai Kuznetsov's remains.

Stepan Putin was a Guards major and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He hailed from the Molotov region of the Russian Federation (now Perm Krai). He was the commander of the battalion of the 25th Guards Mechanized Brigade. He died in February 1945 in Lviv, where he was buried.

As a reminder, in 2023, the process of reburial of Soviet figures from Marsove Pole began in Lviv. All work is expected to be completed by March 2025.