Russians erect Stalin monument in occupied Melitopol

In Melitopol, within the Russian-occupied portion of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a monument to the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin has been erected, as reported by Russian propaganda resources.

Photo from Russian propaganda Telegram channels

The bust was installed near the rotunda, one of the city’s landmarks.

The creators of the monument refer to Stalin as the “inspirer of the Soviet people’s victory over the German-fascist invaders”, but they fail to mention his involvement in the Holodomor of 1932–1933 and the deportation of Crimean Tatars.

The appearance of the bust in Melitopol is not the first instance of Russians installing monuments to Soviet leaders in occupied Ukrainian territories, in violation of Ukrainian legislation. For example, last year, a sculptural composition featuring Lenin and the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky appeared in occupied Zaporizhzhia. It was erected in the village of Shyroke, where a Lenin monument stood until 2016 but was dismantled as part of decommunization.

In Ukraine, since 2015, the production, distribution, and public use of symbols of communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes have been outlawed, including in the form of souvenir products, and the public performance of the anthems of the USSR, Ukrainian SSR (Ukrainian SSR), other union and autonomous Soviet republics, or fragments thereof.

As part of decommunization, nearly a thousand Ukrainian cities were renamed, and over 2,500 monuments associated with the Soviet past were dismantled. Currently, for instance, not a single city name in the Lviv region harks back to the USSR.

In contrast, Russians in the occupied territories are destroying memorial signs commemorating the Holodomor and desecrating the graves of Ukrainian soldiers.

Earlier, Russians erected a monument in occupied Mariupol celebrating the city’s occupation.