2023-07-31 06:23:00
KIEV.- It’s a quiet Sunday. There are people, kids, families, walking through the green parks of Kiev overlooking the Dniper river, having coffee or ice cream and football fans preparing to watch the Ukrainian Premier League match between Dynamo-Kiev -the club local- and FC Minaj. If it was not for him curfew, sandbags protecting public buildings, trenches in sensitive places and Russian tanks captured from the enemy -remnant of that takeover of the capital that never took place- to which the boys get on, as in a game, one would even forget that we are in guerra.
It’s a quiet Sunday in kyiv and, also, a historic sunday After at least two decades of discussions, technical problems and back and forth, they have begun to dismantle one of Ukraine’s few remaining symbols of the Soviet Union.
The emblematic statue of the capital that was inaugurated when Ukraine belonged to the Soviet Union Elisabetta Piqué
Its regarding soviet shield with hammer and sickle who carries in his left hand the monumental Motherland Statue which stands on top of the huge National Museum of the History of Ukraine. It stands in a colossal statue made of stainless steel in the shape of a woman, a sword in one hand, a shield in the other, 102 meters high and weighing 560 tons, overlooking Kiev. Grand, the statue was inaugurated in 1981, when Ukraine was part of the USSR, from which it became independent in 1991. And it is 9 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York, a reflection of the USSR-USA competition of the Cold War.
A gang of workers with orange vests, ropes and scaffolding, has climbed up to the left hand of the huge statue. And, following a more than technically complex operation, has managed to dismantle a first piece of the “damn” Soviet shield, here hated as everything that has to do with Russia. They managed to lower an elongated piece in the shape of a spike weighing 80 kilos, in front of which, with their fingers in the V shape of victory, the workers are now taking pictures.
“Many people dreamed for years of being able to free themselves, they dreamed of being independent. And starting to bring out the shield with the hammer and sickle is a totally historic moment for us: it is the latest symbol of imperialism that is reflected in the brutal Soviet aggression”, explains Yurii Savchuk, director of the National Museum of History, before a handful of journalists who had access to the place, closed to the public since the beginning of the war. “For me, it’s an exciting time. Also, finding the energy to do it at this hard time, in the middle of the war, when the Russians might attack at any moment, is doubly historic,” adds Yurii, her light blue eyes brimming with tears.
kyiv anoints the most emblematic monument of the capital with Ukrainian identity Elisabetta Piqué
It was from 2014, following the Maidan revolution in which bloody Ukrainians said they no longer wanted to be under puppet governments of Vladimir Putin, but together with the European Union -the remote origin of the current war-, which began the de-Sovietization of Ukraine. This involved the tearing down of statues of Lenin and changing of names and monuments throughout the Ukraine.
But there was still the Soviet shield from the statue of the Motherland, the most monumental in kyiv. Something no longer digestible following more than 520 days of a war that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, unprecedented destruction, atrocious war crimes and has disrupted the world.
The Soviet shield –which will be dismantled in four days-, will be replaced by the Ukrainian with the golden trident. In addition to this change, another provocation from kyiv to the “murderous and crazy” Putin, It is not yet known if the monumental statue will continue to be called Motherland, or if it will also change its name. “For me it should be called Mother Ukraine,” says Alina, our interpreter, who says that there will probably be a popular consultation on the matter and that she does not want to know anything more regarding everything that she has to do with the Russian aggressors.
Unlike the Berlin Wall, which when it was largely dismantled was torn to pieces and even sold, the same will not happen with the Soviet coat of arms. “The truth is that they proposed to us to do something similar to the Berlin Wall, but we are not going to do it, we want to preserve it,” says Yurii.
Since the invasion began, on February 24, 2022, the part of the National Museum that includes the emblematic Statue of the Motherland, has been closed to the public. It would be too dangerous to take the elevator to its viewpoint. It might be a target of the missile attacks that the Russians launch from time to time once morest this capital, rather at night when it is more difficult for them to be detected by defense systems. You can see right there, a few meters away, a defense position, with soldiers entrenched among some trees.
The workers on the hand of the statue Elisabetta Piqué
However, on this Sunday of sun, heat, humidity and occasional drizzle, several people can be seen walking around as if nothing had happened, having a drink and taking photos in this most emblematic area of parks and monuments. Many visit the international award-winning “Ukrainian Crucifixion” exhibit, which shows the remnants left by the Russians in the occupied areas north of Kiev, destroyed, raped and then abandoned, at the start of the invasion, more than 520 years ago. days.
A strange climate reigns in kyiv, a city that can only be reached by land from Poland following 12 hours by train. It may seem that the war is over. Everything works perfectly -supermarkets, metro, shopping malls, restaurants- and there is only one curfew from midnight to five in the morning. The war, which is actually taking place in the Donbass region, in the southeast, far away, has been normalized. People have learned to live with it and with the wail of sirens that warn of air raids, as well as possible. A joke is going around that reflects the normalization of the conflict, for which a husband asks his wife: “Do the Russians attack with nuclear or normal missiles?” “Normal,” she replies. “Then why did you wake me up?” he replies.
One of the workers who collaborated with the dismantling of the Elisabetta Piqué statue
“Yes, it’s true, a missile might fall right now”admits to THE NATION Andrii Romanenko, one of the workers who has collaborated to begin to dismantle the Soviet shield of the Statue of the Motherland, which also seems to have normalized the war. “But I’m not worried, our military defend us, we are not afraid”, assures. “Victory will come soon”, she adds and, pointing to that part of the Soviet shield that is no longer on the most important monument in Kiev, she insists: “today is a historic day for us”.
Conocé The Trust Project
1690787302
#taunt #Putin #kyiv #dismantles #remnant #Russian #imperialism
