![Cover for: Flags of survival](https://www.eurozine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/f77ade72bed1220736dc30721f1a1b9a.jpg)
The Ukrainians trapped underground in besieged Mariupol steel works were instructed to wave white flags. They face a warring nation whose people once suffered a crippling war of extermination themselves. What can the present-day memorialization of the Siege of Leningrad tell us about Russia’s heroic self-image?