In Moscow, Russians continue to erect flowers at a makeshift memorial in memory of the dead Ukrainians

Russians continued, despite repression, to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the deadly shelling of a house nine days ago in Dnipro, Ukraine. After the strike, which killed 46 people, which Kyiv attributes to Russian forces, the Russians came to lay flowers, photographs and messages at the foot of the monument to Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka in Moscow, thus creating an impromptu memorial to the victims. .

Unidentified persons cleaned the monument several times, the police made arrests, but the tribute continued. Journalists present at the memorial on Monday morning saw several people laying flowers in front of the police in the car, and other bouquets were already laid at the foot of the statue.

“I express my feelings about this disaster as best I can. I want to express my sympathy, to offer my condolences to the people who are currently suffering,” explains Elena Ivanova, a 63-year-old mathematician, after placing her bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, bowed and signed. “There is no other option. After all, this is the only way to express your protest,” she said.

“See for yourself that Muscovites sympathize”

Alexander Voloshin, a 40-year-old tour guide, stood in front of the monument for several minutes, taking off his hat. “I am news. And as soon as I saw photos a week ago of flowers being brought to the memorial, I decided to go and did so the next day,” he says. “I really wanted to take a picture and see for myself that Muscovites sympathize and show empathy. That there is a memorial dedicated to the victims in Ukraine, Ukrainians, sympathy for them,” he adds.

Noticing that he “had a lot of flowers (on Saturday), but now there are few,” he castigates the Russian authorities, which “fights with this sympathy, with the people.” He says that he has “a lot of Ukrainian friends” and that it is “important for them to know that there is sympathy, that there is a kind of protest against this nightmare.”

Public demonstrations against the offensive in Ukraine in the face of total repression in Russia are very rare. Criticism of the Russian army is punishable in Russia with imprisonment. According to the public organization OVD-Info, during the rallies against the intervention in Ukraine since its launch on February 24, 2022, about 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia.