The image is striking: once perched more than eight meters high, the head of a statue symbolizing the friendship between Russia and Ukraine, in kyiv, was torn off by the authorities of the capital.
The bronze statue, symbolizing two workers – one Ukrainian, the other Russian – holding hands with a victorious air is located under a large structure 35 meters high called the Ark of Friendship of peoples. This was opened in 1982 to symbolize the friendship between Ukraine and what was then the Soviet Union. After 62 days of Russian invasion in the country, the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, however ordered on Tuesday the dismantling of this statue inaugurated in more harmonious times.
???????? Destruction of the “Arch of Friendship of Peoples” in Kyiv
This monument commemorates the Treaty of Pereïaslav of 1654, which sealed an alliance between the Russian Tsara and the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate. It had been built in 1982 to celebrate Ukrainian-Russian friendship pic.twitter.com/sQwPRFHcDB
— Zag???? (@za_gris_tot) April 26, 2022
“Now we see what kind of friendship it is,” he told the media on site, referring to the name of the monument. “Destroying Ukrainian cities, ruining the lives of Ukrainians, killing tens of thousands of peaceful citizens. »
A 40 year old Ukraine-Russian friendship monument has been pulled down in Kyiv. People cheered as the soviet-era bronze statue came crashing down. pic.twitter.com/F9qK23avjq
—SBS News (@SBSNews) April 27, 2022
In 2018, human rights activists put a temporary sticker on the arch representing a crack. It was a show of support for Ukrainian political prisoners following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The dismantling of this statue is part of a desire by the kyiv authorities to restrict the vestiges of a Russian and Soviet presence in the city. Two days earlier, city council secretary Volodymyr Bondarenko told a local newspaper that the council had identified 279 streets that could be renamed because of their connection to Russia or Belarus.
⚡️ Kyiv to change street names linked to Russia, Belarus.
The Kyiv city council has identified 279 names that could be renamed, Volodymyr Bondarenko, the secretary of the council, told Ukrainska Pravda, an online newspaper, on April 25.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 25, 2022
According to comments reported by AFP, the mayor of kyiv would also consider dismantling 60 other monuments, bas-reliefs and signs associated with the USSR. The demolition of the statue on Tuesday morning was observed by several passers-by, enthusiastic about the gesture, in the street.