Russian occupation troops have dismantled the monument to the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol. Destroyed by excavators, the memorial was one of the features of the modernised Freedom Square. It was built on the plan of Ukraine’s Trident coat of arms, with attached bronze leaves showing the names of soldiers who died in the city’s defence. Streams of water, symbolising tears, flowed down the stone slabs of the monument’s foundation. The vandalised site has been consigned to the rubbish heap. In its place, the Russian authorities plan to erect a statue commemorating Alexandr Nevsky – the 13th-century Grand Duke of Vladimir, and a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. In another retaliatory move, the occupation military forces are allegedly going to place a bust of Lenin in one of Mariupol’s schools.
