German activists park destroyed, rusting tank outside Russian embassy

Activists protesting against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine parked a destroyed, rusty tank directly in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin on Friday, bringing a piece of the battlefield to the center of the German capital.

“The broken tank signifies downfall. Ukraine is going to be Putin’s Stalingrad,” said Wieland Giebel, curator of the Berlin Story Bunker Museum, referring to Germany’s defeat in a major battle in World War Two.

The Russian embassy was not available for comment.

The tank, a Russian T-72 B1, was destroyed on March 31, 2022, close to the village of Dmytrivka near Kyiv, by an anti-tank mine, according to organizer Giebel and colleague Enno Lenze.

They said it was transferred to Germany with the help of the Ukrainian defense ministry and the Ukrainian National Museum of Military History.

It has been placed at the intersection of Schadowstrasse and the German capital’s main tourist mile, Unter den Linden, where it will remain until Monday.

The district office of Berlin’s Mitte borough rejected Lenze’s and Giebel’s application to display the tank last year, citing concerns including road safety.

The organizers took legal action, and the Berlin Administrative Court granted them permission to proceed with the project.

The tank will subsequently tour through Europe and may end up in a German tank museum.