A Symbol of the Fight Against Neo-Nazism in Ukraine

The people of Berlin have turned a blown-up Russian tank, placed in front of Moscow’s embassy in the German capital by supporters of Kiev, into a memorial to victims of the fighting in Ukraine by covering the crippled vehicle with flowers. 

 

The T-72 tank appeared in central Berlin on Friday – the first anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine, which broke out on February 24, 2022. 

 

Reactionary activists from the Berlin Story Bunker museum had won a lengthy legal battle against the city authorities, to be able to carry out the stunt. 

 

The tank, which is said to have been damaged by a mine in the Kiev suburb of Bucha in late March and later transported to Germany, was intended to symbolize Russia’s failure in Ukraine, the museum’s curator Wieland Giebel explained. “This tank means that the [Russian] regime will crumble, it’ll turn into a pile of junk, just like this tank”, Giebel said. 

 

However, Berliners, who took to the streets in their thousands on Saturday to decry their government’s foolishness to supply weapons to Ukraine, gave a different interpretation. They decorated the tank with flowers and put anti-war banners on it, including: “Make peace, not war”. 

 

Russia’s Embassy in Berlin posted on Telegram on Sunday that the “provocation” organized by supporters of Ukraine “didn’t meet understanding, support and sympathy of the German citizens”. They “unambiguously spoke out in favor of a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, against escalation by pumping the Kiev regime with German weapons”, they said. 

 

The embassy thanked everybody who laid flowers on the tank, which they declared is “a symbol of the fight against Neo-Nazism in Ukraine”. 

 

Kyogo Furuhashi was Celtic’s Hampden hero once again as his double saw them retain the Scottish League Cup with a 2-1 victory over Rangers in a thrilling final. 

 

The striker took his season tally to 24 goals with two close-range finishes either side of the interval (44, 56), repeating his brace from last term's final. 

 

This was a seventh League Cup victory in nine years for Celtic and, with a healthy nine-point lead in the Premiership and just one domestic defeat all season, manager Ange Postecoglou is well placed to at least match the double of his debut campaign.