Russia’s Yakutsk to replace memorial to Polish and Lithuanian deportees with statue of soldier killed in Ukraine

Authorities in the Russian city of Yakutsk plan to erect a statue honoring a local soldier killed in the war against Ukraine on the site where a memorial to Polish and Lithuanian exiles once stood, independent outlet 7x7 reports.

The monument will be placed at the corner of Poyarkova and Kurashova streets, where a commemorative stone ensemble bearing plaques honoring hundreds of deportees who died in the city between 1941 and 1947 stood from 2002 until its removal in 2023. The city's chief architect, Semyon Sergeyev, confirmed the plans to local state media agency YSIA, adding that the monument was privately funded and manufactured in Krasnoyarsk. A base is currently being prepared at the site ahead of the statue's delivery and installation.

The corner had been home since 2002 to a stone ensemble of commemorative plaques honoring hundreds of Polish and Lithuanian exiles who died in the city between 1941 and 1947. The plaques were removed in June 2023, and the stones also disappeared three months later. The city administration pledged to investigate but never followed through, and regional authorities later declared the memorial had not been an officially protected heritage site.

The new monument will honor Dmitry Yegorov, a native of Yakutia killed in September 2023 near the village of Novomaiorske in the Donetsk region. According to Russia's Defense Ministry, he repelled a larger Ukrainian assault force before sustaining a fatal wound. Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded him the title Hero of Russia. The independent outlet SOTA noted that this will be the third monument dedicated to him in the region.