Donetsk, Mar 1 – DAN. DPR residents have collected over 100 kg of Ukrainian shells fragments across the Republic to make the Order of Judas for the Ukrainian president Petr Poroshenko.
"Residents of every DPR town and region have responded to the initiative of the Donetsk Republic social movement and are actively participating in collecting material for the 'award'. Over 100 kg have been collected, there is a story behind every fragment," the movement's press statement reads.
The "order" for Poroshenko has a historical counterpart: in 1709, Russian Tsar Peter I ordered to cast the Order of Judas for Zaporizhian Host chief Ivan Mazepa who, just before the Battle of Poltava, had defected to Sweden, Russia’s opponent in the Northern War. The 5-kg silver Order with the figure of Judas Iscariot hanging on an aspen tree with 30 silver pieces lying at his feet had an inscription “Thrice-cursed fatal son, Judas, hanging because of his lust for money".*ot