Kharkiv, Ukraine—As fighting continues to escalate in east Ukraine, a pro-Russian separatist group calling itself the “Kharkiv Partisans” declared that it would execute five Ukrainian civilians for every Communist monument destroyed, underscoring worries that a recent law banning Soviet symbols might escalate tensions in the war-torn country.
The threat followed a Monday meeting in Berlin between delegates from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany to defuse the Ukraine conflict’s recent uptick in violence.
“[E]ach monument in Kharkiv equals about five Ukrops (a derogatory term for Ukrainians),” Kharkiv Partisans spokesman Filipp Ekozyants said in a YouTube video released April 14, speaking in both Ukrainian …read more
Source: Newsweek
