Ukraine: Stalin statue blast 'terrorism'

Ukrainian authorities have described as an act of terrorism a New Year's Eve explosion that destroyed a statue of Josef Stalin.

The unveiling of the statue, the first new public monument to Stalin in decades, in Zaporizhya last May fuelled tension between Ukraine's pro-Russian east and nationalist west.

Many in the west and centre of the country see Stalin as a symbol of Russian oppression responsible for the 1933 famine which killed millions of Ukrainians. But some older people in the mainly Russian-speaking east and south praise him.

The statue, near a Communist Party office in Zaporizhya, was blown up on 31 December, the eve of the birthday of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian Second World War nationalist leader. No-one was hurt in the attack.