As someone not familiar with the statue I was wondering why they were modifying it during the war, so this is how it originally looked like: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6b/24/7b/6b247b685bd8d014d54d779fa0e7ec1b.jpg

And here is why it wasn't done earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Ukraine_Monument#Decommunisation