On July 12, the Kraków City Council in conjunction with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Kraków and the local unit of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland unveiled a Free Ukraine Square sign next to the Russian consulate. The inauguration was attended by local government officials, Ukraine’s consul general in Kraków, and residents of the city, including Ukrainians who live there, many of whom came with their national flags, TVN24 reported. They sang the Ukrainian anthem, and some cried.
As Kraków Mayor Jacek Majchrowski said during the ceremony, this is proof that “David will defeat Goliath.” He emphasized that the city has been involved in helping and supporting Ukraine from the very beginning of the Russian invasion. “Nobody expected that in the 21st century we would deal with such brutal aggression just across our border,” Majchrowski said.
Kraków is not the first in Poland to demonstrate its solidarity with Ukraine and simultaneously troll the Russians in this way. On July 1, a Heroic Mariupol Square appeared on the map of Gdańsk – just next the Russia’s consulate. “It was a unanimous decision of the city council. We remember, we exist, we help, and we will help our partner Mariupol # StandWithUkraine️ #Mariupol #Solidarity,” Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Gdańsk Mayor, wrote on Twitter. And she also posted on Facebook: “Together with [Warsaw Mayor] Rafał Trzaskowski, we also pledged to help rebuild the city by signing the Phoenix City Pact.”
Obviously, toponyms like that annoy the Kremlin and putin’s fans who can be found even in Poland. On July 5, the sign of Heroic Mariupol Square in Gdańsk was destroyed. It will not be a surprise if the police investigation leads to the consulate.
SCU sincerely thanks the Polish people for their support and condemns the Kremlin’s acts of vandalism, which will not be able to hide the truth about Russia’s crimes anyway.
