The Ukrainian Congress of Estonia is asking police to investigate an alleged act of vandalism against the Shevchenko’s Oak in Tallinn, UCE Chairwoman Vira Konyk told rus.err.ee.
About a week and a half ago, unidentified persons sawed two large branches off the oak that UCE planted in 2004 to commemorate Taras Shevchenko’s visit to Tallinn in 1842. The Ukrainian community suspects that it was done as revenge by Russian supporters against a rally for Ukrainian culture held near the Russian Embassy in Tallinn.
“We did not exclude that local landscaping authorities of Tallinn’s Kesklinn district could have carried out some works, but I contacted them on Monday and they assured me that the city had nothing to do with it,” Ms Konyk said.
Regretfully, anti-Ukrainian acts of vandalism have become more frequent since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war in February. On August 11, in the Jordanian capital of Amman, vandals damaged a Shevchenko plaque installed on the street named after the great Ukrainian poet and artist near the Ukrainian Embassy’s former premises. In July, the name plaque of the “Heroic Mariupol” was graffitied with black paint in Gdańsk, Poland.
UWC condemns such vandalism as part of the Kremlin’s global and coordinated anti-Ukrainian operation that aims to sow discord between Ukrainians their allies and within our global communities.
