KYIV (Dagbladet): The burnt-out tank is part of an exhibition of destroyed Russian military equipment on Mykhailovska Square in central Kyiv, next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, St. Michael’s Monastery with the Golden Dome and a hotel hosted by journalists from the world’s leading media.
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Ukrainian authorities have thus facilitated spectacular images for live broadcasts from Kyiv. Sometimes Ukrainians take selfies next to the burnt-out Russian tank.
A full-scale war in Ukraine has been going on for three months. More than 90 days, more than two thousand hours. According to the UN, at least 4,000 people have died during this time. On average, every hour, 24/7, the Russians have killed two Ukrainians in the last three months. And these are just the numbers confirmed by international observers, without taking into account the victims in Mariupol and other temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine.
SYMBOL HEAVY: Ukrainians climb on the burnt out Russian tank. Photos and selfies are taken. Photo: Aleksandr Gusev / SOPA Images / Shutterstock
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For three months, Putin has been telling us – give me Ukraine, otherwise I will destroy the country. It will be like in Mariupol everywhere if we do not give up.
And we understand that if we surrender, it will be like in Butsja everywhere. Russia offers us a choice between bombing and shelling or looting and violence. Somehow – during the course of a Russian machine gun.
On the 90th day of the war, my mother wrote to me from Kherson that fighter jets fly very low over the city. Their penetrating sound is frightening.
DESTROYED: Both large and small check out the wrecked tank. REUTERS / Gleb Garanich
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Now this has also become part of the world that the occupier offers us: Russian banks and currency. In addition, they refuse us to meet in public, they destroy Ukrainian books and try to write about our history.
And Russian soldiers continue to rob city shops, drive around the city drunk and kill and rape civilians along the front line villages. For three months, Ukraine has been fighting for the right to exist. For three months, Russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine. For three months, Ukraine is bravely resisting. And for three months, politicians in some European countries have been talking about Ukraine having to compromise and give part of Putin’s territory.
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Does this mean I should give Putin my hometown? And does that mean that my mother, who lives in the occupied territories, will either get a Russian passport or leave the city where she has lived for almost 70 years?
She wants to leave Kherson now. But there is still the same problem – Russian soldiers will not let anyone out of the city and towards Ukraine.
GOAT AND TANKS: Even goats will check out the burnt-out Russian tank on display in the center of Kyiv. Photo: Ukrinform / Shutterstock
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Eight years ago, Russia annexed Crimea and occupied the Donbas. Eight years later, this was not enough, and Russia moved on. If Putin occupied all of Ukraine, he would not stop here either. And one day, after amassing power and strength, he would move on – to Poland, Slovakia, the Baltic countries, and so on – as long as some politicians talk about giving him some territories.
While the Russian military, led by Putin, continues to kill at least two Ukrainians an hour for more than three months.
Translated by Asle Hansen.
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