A drift stunt organized to promote the Red Bull energy drink in Kyiv, Ukraine has infuriated city officials who say it put the public and a cathedral of great historical importance in danger.
The stunt saw two cars drifting around a statue in the square in front of the Saint Sofia Cathedral, which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Although the company asked the city for permission to film the stunt, Deputy Mayor Konstiantyn Usov said in an August 10 Facebook post that city officials turned the company down.
Per BYKVU, the company went for it anyway, filming with local rap star Alyona Alyona in the passenger seat and making no efforts to close off the square to pedestrians.
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“Red Bull did it early in the morning, secretly, with no security measures to protect pedestrians, risking dozens of lives,” wrote Usov. “People would go to work in the morning across the Square and had to avoid the drifting cars. The results could have been indeed tragical.”
Beyond the danger to the public, the drift cars, driven by Conor Shanahan and Oleksandr Grynchuk, per videos since taken down from Instagram by Red Bull, left tire marks on more than 2,000 sq meters (21,527 sqft) of traditional Kyiv yellow bricks.
A Red Bull official later posted a video showing crews attempting to remove the tire marks saying “it will be better than it was,” but to no avail, KYVU reports. The outlet also reports that the police have opened a probe into the incident, despite being accused by Usov of giving the event their blessing.
Authorities are still calculating the monetary value of the damages.
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