A statue of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, erected in 1959 in the Ukrainian city of Ternopil, has been removed.

Axar.az reports that the dismantling took place last night by the decision of the city council.

Mayor Sergei Nadal said that the Russian occupation, vandalism in Ukraine, rape of women and killing of children left them no other way out:

"All Russians must be taken away - including statues of Russian writers."

It was noted that the petition for the removal of the statue was held in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Although the petition received the required number of votes in 2020, the mayor's office refused to remove the statue.

The statue has not yet been removed from the square, but its future will be clarified later.