Kyiv City Hall on Tuesday began demolition of a historic Soviet-era monument celebrating the friendship between Ukraine and Russia after Moscow invaded the country two months ago.
Ukrainians have reached the Soviet monument under the Arch of Friendship of Nations in Kyiv. It will be dismantled. pic.twitter.com/eIuKYWY3cD
— Chebureki Vibes (@PelmeniPusha) April 26, 2022
AFP journalists in Kyiv saw the head of one of the two figures in this statue collapse as a crane tried to dismantle it in central Kyiv.
In Kyiv during dismantling of a monument by workers under the arch of “Friendship of peoples” at the Russian worker the head fell off
Another bad sign for racists.#ArmUkraineNow #GenocideOfUkrainians #Stop Russian aggression #StopPutin #Terrorism pic.twitter.com/M1GSQBnpcR
— Natali (@NataliN78831281) April 26, 2022
“Eight meters of metal mined from the so-called ‘friendship of the two peoples’. And what is symbolic (…) the head of the Russian worker fell off,” said the mayor of the Ukrainian capital on Telegram, Vitali Klitschko.
The massive bronze statue, erected in 1982 during Soviet times to commemorate the “reunification of Russia and Ukraine,” will be completely dismantled by Tuesday night, he added.
Vitali Klitschko justified this decision with Moscow’s desire to “destroy the state and the Ukrainians” with the invasion of the country that began on February 24.
Another monument in this set will be dismantled at a later date, while the third, an arch, will be renamed and illuminated in Ukrainian colors.
According to the Mayor of Kiev, 60 more monuments, bas-reliefs and signs related to the USSR and Russia will soon be dismantled. In addition, more than 460 streets will be renamed.
Ukraine has been pursuing a policy of “decommunization” for years, notably by dismantling statues of Lenin and changing the names of certain cities to give them back their pre-Bolshevik Revolution names of 1917.