The friendship between Ukraine and Russia broke down a long time ago, and now an important monument that celebrated the friendship between peoples with much pathos has been demolished: On Tuesday evening, on the instructions of Mayor Vitali Klitschko, workers in Kyiv dismantled the huge bronze sculptures of a Russian and a Ukrainian worker , which have symbolized the bond between the former brother countries since 1982. When the Russian worker’s head fell – unintentionally, it was said – applause erupted from several hundred spectators.
A second part of the monument, a group of granite figures, will also be removed. Only the titanium rainbow that spans the ensemble should remain. It is rededicated to the “Arch for the Freedom of the Ukrainian People”.
Even the 86-year-old Kiev architect Serhiy Myrhorodskyj, who created the monument 40 years ago, was happy about its destruction, reports the Guardians. “It’s the only right thing to do. There is no friendship with Russia and there will be none as long as Putin and his gang are in this world.”
According to Klitschko, 60 other memorials commemorating Russia and the Soviet Union are to disappear in Kyiv alone, and many more in other places in Ukraine. “We must expel the enemy and the Russian occupier from our country.”
Should the Soviet tanks also disappear from Berlin’s Tiergarten?
Many Ukrainian communities are also in the process of renaming streets reminiscent of Russia. In Dnipro, the street of the 30th Irkutsk Division will be called the Street of Ukrainian Soldiers from now on. In Kyiv, 60 streets are to be renamed, including Leo Tolstoy Square and the metro station of the same name. In the village of Fontanka near Odessa, those responsible decided – perhaps somewhat hastily – to rename Vladimir Mayakovsky Street Boris Johnson Street because the British prime minister had promised arms deliveries days earlier.
A number of Soviet memorials in Germany have been defaced since the beginning of the war, including the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin, which has been under police protection ever since. In Germany, too, there are initial demands for the monuments to be dismantled. The Berlin CDU MP Stefanie Bung suggested removing the Soviet tanks at the memorial on Straße des 17. Juni. In the 1990 2+4 Treaty, Germany committed itself to respecting and protecting the memorials dedicated to the Soviet victims of the war.