A 27-foot-tall Soviet-era statute, which earlier symbolized the friendship between Ukraine and Russia, has been demolished.
The bronze statue used to show a Ukrainian and a Russian citizen holding a medal. It depicted the Soviet Union’s Order of Friendship of Peoples.
The statute was located underneath giant titanium “People’s Friendship Arch” which was erected in 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union.
Before the complete destruction was carried out, the authorities in Kyiv removed the head of the figure of the Russian citizen in the statue on Tuesday, media reports said.
This comes as Russia has stepped up the offensive in the Ukraine war, which started on February 24.
The Soviet-era statue was installed in the capital city in 1982.
“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.
Around 100 people had witnessed the dismantling of the statue, while cheering and shouting “Glory to Ukraine” and other slogans, as per a Reuters report.
Russia`s invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.
(With inputs from agencies)
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