I'm sure you can have the statue there if you want. As a chemist I use Mendeleevs work several times a day and value higly his contributions to the world, but I fully understand Ukranians and support the removal.

The reason Russia puts these statues in Ukraine was to symbolize their influence over it. We may not see it that way, but it's important to know that they do. The first thing we Finns started to do was removing statues here when Russia invaded Ukraine. And statues of Lenin of all the people! That man is the reason we are independent, but to protect that legacy, we removed his statues. Ironic isn't it? It was a message to Russia that they do not own us just because they gave us independence.