The Russian-installed occupation administration in Mariupol has dismantled a memorial dedicated “to the victims of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 and political repressions.” The memorial had been in the city's center since 2004.
A video published by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti shows a short granite monument depicting wheat, a ribbon, and barbed wire being dismantled with a crane and loaded onto a truck. The outlet reported that the granite will be recycled and used for construction.
RIA Novosti asked several local residents to comment on the monument’s removal. Artem Bobrovsky, a historian at Donetsk National University, said that “it wasn’t Ukraine or the Donbas who suffered most from the famine of 1932–1933,” because Kazakhstan, the Volga region, and the North Caucasus suffered more.
“We’re not dismantling a memorial, we’re dismantling a symbol of political disinformation,” said Yevgenia Krotova, who leads the local chapter of a youth organization.
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