In Moscow, Russians continue to flower an improvised memorial in tribute to the Ukrainian victims

Russians continued, despite the repression, to lay flowers on an improvised memorial for the victims of the deadly bombardment nine days ago of a building in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Since this strike which left 46 dead, attributed to Russian forces by kyiv, Russians have come to lay flowers, photographs and messages at the foot of the statue in Moscow of a Ukrainian poet, Lessia Oukraïnka, thus setting up a makeshift memorial to the victims.

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Unidentified persons cleaned the monument several times and police made arrests, but the tributes continued.

Present at the memorial on Monday morning, journalists saw several people lay flowers under the eyes of police in a car, while other bouquets were already placed at the foot of the statue.

Policemen circulating in front of the statue.

Several people have been arrested in recent days.

AFP/Alexander NEMENOV AFP or licensors

“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, bowing and signing.

“There is no other option.

It's the only way to express my protest, after all,” she said.

“See for myself that Muscovites sympathize”

Alexander Voloshin, a 40-year-old tourist guide, stood in front of the monument for several minutes, taking off his hat.

“I am the news.

And as soon as I saw the pictures showing flowers being brought to the memorial a week ago, I decided to go and the next day I did,” he says.

“I really wanted to take pictures and see for myself that Muscovites sympathize and show empathy.

That there is a memorial dedicated to the victims in Ukraine, to the Ukrainians, empathy for them,” he adds.

Observing that he "had a lot of flowers (Saturday) and not many now", he castigates the Russian authorities, who "struggle against this sympathy, against people".

He says 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 are very rare in Russia, in a context of all-out repression.

Criticizing the Russian army is punishable by imprisonment in Russia.

According to the NGO OVD-Info, nearly 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia during rallies against the intervention in Ukraine since its launch on February 24, 2022.