The demolition of a monument symbolizing the friendship Ukraine and Russia once had began with the decapitation of the figure representing the Russian side of the relationship.
Authorities in Kyiv on Tuesday pulled the head off one side of the nearly 30-foot Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital city since 1982. The rest of the monument came crashing down shortly afterward. The dismantling of the bronze statue depicting a Ukrainian and a Russian holding up a medal representing the Soviet Union’s Order of Friendship of Peoples comes in response to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
“We now see what this ‘friendship’ is — destruction of Ukrainian cities … killing tens of thousands of peaceful people. I am convinced such a monument has an entirely different meaning now,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a former champion boxer, said on Tuesday.
A crowd of around 100 people watching the dismantling cheered and shouted, “Glory to Ukraine,” according to Reuters.
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A large titanium arch standing over the statue will remain in place, but it will be renamed and altered, according to Klitschko.
The Arch of Friendship of Nations will now be called The Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People, and it will be highlighted with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 5,840 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion — 2,729 killed and 3,111 injured.
