Monument to Russian monarch Catherine the Great being dismantled in OdesaDismantling of the monument to Catherine the Great (Photo:dumskaya.net)The dismantling of a monument to Russian imperial monarch Catherine the Great in Odesa has begun, local news outlet Dumska reported on Dec. 28Traffic on a nearby square nearby has been restricted until he end of the dismantling process, Dumska added.Workers are conducting preparations for the monument’s eventual removal from its place at Katerynynska Square in central Odesa.A petition to the presidential administration to demolish the statue gathered steam earlier this year, when it gathered the required 25,000 signatures needed to receive official comment.In response, Zelenskyy stressed the importance of protecting national interests, specifically creating public spaces free from objects linked to Russian and Soviet imperial history, which "still repeat Russian and anti-Ukrainian narratives”.Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov called for the monument to be later re-established in a park that would be dedicated to the city’s history under imperial Russian rule."