Photos show a wax figurine of Vladimir Putin being dismantled piece by piece in a Paris museum after the Russian invasion of Ukraine

• A museum in Paris has dismantled a wax figurine of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• The museum's director said the figurine was defaced by visitors, and staff did not want to have to keep fixing it.

A Paris museum has dismantled its wax figure of Russian leader Vladimir Putin after it was defaced.

Photos showed the staff at Paris' Grevin Museum taking apart the wax statue piece by piece.

"Today is it no longer possible to present a character like him. For the first time in the museum's history, we are withdrawing a statue because of historical events currently underway," museum director Yves Delhommeau said during a radio interview with French channel France Bleu radio, as reported by Reuters.

Delhommeau said the waxwork had suffered some damage over the weekend from visitors.

"Given what has happened, we and our staff do not want to have to fix his hair and appearance every day," Delhommeau told France Bleu radio.

Delhommeau said the now-empty spot between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which the Putin waxwork previously occupied, might be filled by a wax statue of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Maybe President Zelensky will take his place ... he has become a hero for having resisted and for not fleeing his country. He could perfectly well take his place his among the great men of history and today," he said to France Bleu radio, per Reuters.

The same wax figurine of Putin at the Grevin Museum was previously vandalized in June 2014, according to the AFP. At the time, photos showed the Putin statue toppled over with its head in pieces and a wooden stake driven through its abdomen.

Insider's live blog of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is covering developments as they happen.