No other city in Ukraine has so many monuments of the battle genre as Sevastopol. The whole country knows about Malakhov Mound, Sevastopol Defense Museum, complexes Mikhailovskaya Battery and 35th Coastal Battery, the diorama Storming of Sapun Mountain and submarine base in Balaklava, turned into a tourist attraction.
Among the dozens of memorials of the Crimean and two World Wars, The Square of Internationalist Warriors stands a little apart. First of all, it is dedicated to the event, which has thundered recently. The Afghan war began in 1979, and in 1989 the Soviet troops were withdrawn from the country. Secondly, while during the Crimean, World War I and World War II the residents and sailors of Sevastopol defended their own land, the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of a foreign sovereign state is still a subject of debate in society and among military historians.
But be that as it may, some Sevastopol guys, drafted in the period from ’79 to ’88, were forced to go to Afghanistan and fought there. Some were wounded, and some returned home in a zinc coffin. The so-called famous «cargo 200», which was delivered by the «Black Tulip» — an An-12 airplane — from Afghanistan and delivered to the parents of the unfortunate guys all over the vast expanse of the great and immense USSR.
In memory of the Sevastopol residents who died in a foreign war, in the hero-city appeared Square dedicated to the soldiers-internationalists. It is located on the territory of Leninsky district, on Lenin Street, between Lenin Komsomol Square and Suvorov Square. The initial breakdown of the mini-park took place in 1996 in honor of the seventh anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Architect G. S. Grigoryants became the main architect and the ideological inspirer of the project.
There are 2 memorial signs in the square, the space between which is filled with liquid vegetation and stunted samples of budget landscape design. The first in the park was the Memorial to Afghan warriors. It is a vertical Latin cross of white color, which symbolizes the red-hot Afghan sand. The cross «grows» from a cracked five-pointed star. According to the author’s idea, this composition emphasizes the senselessness of the Afghan war and the Sevastopol residents sacrificed to it.
The cross with a star is surrounded by a semicircular portal made of black granite. It bears the inscription «To the soldiers of the war in Afghanistan» and the names of 15 citizens who perished in the tropical hell. The portico is edged with white and red stripes, traditional symbols of blood and mercy.
The second monument is an infantry fighting vehicle, which was a real participant in the events in Afghanistan. It was placed on a pedestal imitating «wild stone» in 1999.
In addition to the BMP and the Memorial, on the territory of this landmark of Sevastopol planted 19 cypresses, symbolizing the 19th anniversary of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. If tourists come to vacation in Sevastopol, they will definitely go up to this park, which offers a stunning view of the Sevastopol Bay. On February 15 — the day of soldiers-internationalists, and on May 9, participants of military actions always gather here to remember the taste of porridge from the field kitchen and drink the legal «front hundred grams».