The statue of the city's founder, located in Odessa's central square, has been repeatedly vandalized since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in many Ukrainians rejecting their country's historical ties with Moscow.
The city council announced the decision to remove the statue on its website today. Local MPs had also backed the removal and relocation of a monument in honour of an 18th century Russian general, Aleksandr Suvorov.
Catherine founded Odessa in 1794
A small majority of Odessa residents had already voted in an online process organised by the city authorities to remove the statue of Catherine the Great, who was Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796.
Several petitions had also been submitted to President Volodymyr Zhelensky asking for the statue's removal, but only local authorities were allowed to make this decision.
The statue, officially known as the Monument to the Founders of Odessa, will be moved to a temporary storage facility and then to a museum, according to the Suspilne news network.
Odessa, founded by Catherine the Great in the late 18th century, was a city of strategic importance to Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, but has long been known as a melting pot of cultures.
The turbulent history of the statue in Odessa
Since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, its port has been an important part of the Ukrainian economy and has suffered repeated blows during the Russian war in Ukraine.
The statue of Catherine the Great, originally erected in 1900, was dismantled in 1920 under Soviet leadership, but was restored by Ukrainian authorities in 2007.
After the Moscow invasion, the Ukrainian authorities removed monuments associated with Russia and changed the names of some streets associated with Russia as part of a process of 'de-Russianization'.
Source: iefimerida.gr
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