Protesters have torn down a towering bust of Soviet military hero Marshal Georgy Zhukov in Ukraine's second-largest city.

Destruction of the monument in Kharkiv on Sunday came amid protests by an array of far-right and nationalist groups against an organizing session for a new political party. The party is led by the mayors of Kharkiv and Odesa, both of whom were members of the party of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russia president ousted amid bloody protests in 2014.

The protesters said the bust violated Ukraine's law banning Communist symbols. A crowd of hundreds cheered as protesters tugged on a cord around the bust and it toppled off a high plinth.

Zhukov commanded the Red Army forces in the final assault on Berlin in World War II.