The mayor of Zhytomyr announced the removal of the T-34 from the pedestal in the city center on May 9

"Tank" - a monument to Soviet soldiers on Victory Square in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Archive photo

The Soviet T-34 tank in Ukrainian Zhytomyr is being dismantled on May 9 from the pedestal on Victory Square, Mayor of the city Sergey Sukhomlin said in a video message on Facebook (the company that owns the Meta social network has been recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

“Regarding the so-called Victory Day celebration: on May 9 we will be moving a tank from Victory Square,” Sukhomlin said.

He added that with regard to other monuments dedicated to Russian culture, the decision will be made after the return of the city's residents. “I am not against culture. <...> However, when culture is used for ideology, it is not safe,” Sukhomlin clarified his position.

Bust of Zhukov demolished in Kharkiv Politics

In mid-April, a monument to Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov was demolished in Kharkov. As reported by the TV channel "Suspilne" with reference to the head of the administration of the Nemyshlyansky district of the city Tatiana Topchiy, on the morning of April 17, two cars with the military drove up to the monument, removed the bust of the military leader from the pedestal and drove away. The Ukrainian coat of arms was painted on the pedestal itself.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on insulting the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland (part 4 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). The maximum penalty under this article is imprisonment for up to five years.

Prior to this, the Odessa authorities announced plans to remove the tablets with the names of Russian cities (Volgograd, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg and Taganrog) from the memorial sign of sister cities and partners on Dumskaya Square. At the same time, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said that in the Ukrainian capital they plan to rename the streets, avenues and stations with Russian names. The renaming of the streets named after the Russians will also be done in Lviv - by May they are going to change the names of at least 30 streets.

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On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation in Ukraine to "demilitarize" and "denazify" the neighboring country. Kyiv imposed martial law and severed diplomatic relations with Moscow.

In Ukraine, since May 2015, a law on decommunization has been in force, which prohibits the promotion of communist symbols. It also provides for the dismantling of monuments to Soviet statesmen, the renaming of topographic objects named after them. In 2019, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the process of decommunization in the country was “virtually completed.”