From a place behind the Independence Column, probably the platform that you can see in the second picture. The text on the draped build to the rights reads Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava! (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!), a Ukrainian slogan. As for why it is draped, we will return to that. The statue to the right depicts the three brothers and their sister who according to legend were the founders of Kiev. I don't know history of the small arch of triumph on the far end of the square.