According to the city’s mayor, a Soviet-era monument erected in Kiev to symbolize friendship between Russia and Ukraine was demolished on Tuesday in response to the neighboring country’s Russian invasion.

The statue depicts a Ukrainian and a Russian worker on a pedestal holding together a Soviet order of friendship. The statue was located under the People’s Friendship Arch, erected in 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union.

“The monument … symbolized friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. Now we see what this ‘friendship’ is – the destruction of Ukrainian cities, the destruction of Ukrainian lives, the massacre of tens of thousands of peaceful people. “This monument now has a completely different meaning,” said Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko. I’m convinced it is,” he said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, left thousands dead or wounded, burned cities to ashes, and forced more than five million people to flee to other countries.

Moscow describes its actions as a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say this is a false pretext for a war launched without provocation to seize territory, raising fears of a wider conflict in Europe not seen since the Second World War.

As the monument fell, a crowd chanted “Glory to Ukraine, victory to the heroes, victory to the Ukrainian nation”.