RARE WW2 SOVIET UNION RUSSIAN MEDAL FOR THE DEFENCE OF KIEV

Description

Soviet Union Russian Medal for the Defence of Kiev.

32mm wide circular bronze medal with soldered loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the half-length figures of a soldier, a sailor and male and female civilians facing left with rifles at the ready, the Verkhovna Rada building beyond, circumscribed above in Cyrillic characters ‘ZA OBORONU KIEVA’ (for the Defence of Kiev) above, a five-pointed star on a ribbon at the base, laurel branches to either side; the reverse inscribed in Cyrillic characters ‘ZA NASHAU SOVETSKUYU RODINU’ (for our Soviet Motherland) below a hammer and sickle; on original ribbon and pentagonal hanger mounted for wear.

The Medal was instituted on 21 June 1961, much later than the other Soviet medals for World War II, and awarded to military and civilians who took part in the heroic resistance of the city of Kiev to invading German forces from 7 July to 26 September 1941.

The Verkhovna Rada building in central Kiev housed the Supreme Soviet of The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.  Completely destroyed during the war, it was subsequently rebuilt in 1945 to 1947 and now houses the Ukrainian parliament.

The relatively small size of the forces involved and its later issue, some of those who would have qualified for the medal no longer then living, make this one of the rarer Soviet medals of World War II.