The defiant message was loud and clear: “My name is Ukraine, and when this war is over, I will invite you to visit.” That was the voice and words from a film screened on a large electronic billboard shown to more than 2,000 protesters at a rally in Trafalgar Square, London on Sunday, April 3.
In front of the screen stood 25 men and women holding a white placard with the names of cities that had suffered untold devastation by invading Russian troops. Each had their own story – they were all different in their own special way – but they were all part of Ukraine. Irpin, Konotop, Izium, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chornobyl, Luhansk, Poltava, Odesa and Mariupol, to name a few.
“Today we are paying our respects to these cities that have gone through hell on earth. They have been bombed, destroyed and invaded by Russian troops,” said Zoryana Mud, one of the rally’s organisers. But first she announced that Kyiv Region was now free from Russian occupiers, which prompted wild applause.
“If freedom has a name, it is Ukraine,” she went on. The 22-year-old from Lviv, studying commercial and corporate law in London, then catalogued the horrific scenes the retreating ‘inhumane, barbaric beings’ she could not describe as Russian soldiers, had left behind. These included killings of men and raping of old women and girls.
The first person to introduce himself said: “I am Mariupol. I am named after the Virgin Mary.” He described the seaport, its 430,000 population which had come under attack, blockade, and had been without heating, food and water for 35 days.
“The aggressors did not allow people to leave the area. They killed older people, women and children were bombed at a maternity hospital, a bomb had been dropped on a theatre killing many as thousands of people were hiding there,” he said.
Ninety nine per cent of the city was destroyed. He called on the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, to save the thousands of people still trapped there. A video of the city before and after it was bombed was shown with the Azov Regiment shown vowing they would fight for it.
Another speaker got up and introduced himself. “I am Kyiv,” he said. “I was established in the 5th century as Kyivan Rus, a centre for Christianity. I became a primary target, but they were defeated by the Ukrainian army. They tried to bomb us, but they then retreated and we were liberated.
“I am Hostomel, a city northwest of the capital city of Kyiv. I have an airport where the world’s largest plane Mriya called ‘Dream’ was destroyed. It will be rebuilt. On April 1 we were liberated.”
“I am from Melitopol, a city in Zaporizhizhia Region in south-eastern Ukraine. We are under occupation, but we are out protesting, taking on the tanks with our bare hands. Russian troops tried to steal our honey and our bees killed them. Nature was on our side. We are waiting for our army to liberate us.”
The next speaker was from Chernihiv, 70% of which was destroyed by advancing Russian forces.
“I am Chernihiv, we were besieged from March 10. The Russian invaders encircled us and trapped us. We had no gas, water and heating. They destroyed our bridge, killed and tortured us.”
“I am Donetsk. We were occupied in 2014, and for 242 days our soldiers, known as ‘cyborgs’, defended our airport until it was destroyed.”
“I am from Poltava. My history teacher and my friends have joined the army. We will rebuild our cities and we will win the war.”
Other speakers came up to the podium and introduced themselves as Kharkiv, Irpin and Bucha. The latter is a suburb of Kyiv where mass graves containing at least 400 people have been discovered. The victims were murdered and tortured, some were raped.
A chant of ‘Stop The Genocide of Ukraine’ was heard when the speaker said how the Russian soldiers had tried to burn the corpses. Bucha was now liberated, but the crimes committed there would never be forgotten or forgiven.
Chants of ‘World Support Ukraine’ and ‘Boycott Russia’ were heard. Zoryana said: “The Russians are spending billions of dollars on the war when they should be spending it on their own people and not ‘liberating’ our country.”
A minute’s silence was held to remember those cities that had suffered under Putin’s hands.
Archpriest Myroslav Pushkaruk, from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in London, gave a moving story about an English boy who had sent his teddy bear to Ukraine for it to be looked after. When it arrived, it was taken to a hospital where it was given to a little boy. The hope being that one day both boys could be reunited one day.
Archpriest Myroslav said: “We will pray for all who are there and for those that have no one to pray for them. Those that are alive will see a free Ukraine and the sun will shine again.”
‘I am Bucha’. ‘I am Poltava’. Ukrainian Orthodox Archpriest Myroslav prays for the victims of the war and those left behind. (Photo Credit: Tony Leliw)
The rally was interspersed with music. Patriotic singer Ihesa from Ivano-Frankivsk on guitar gave a moving interpretation of the cover song ‘Ukrainian Fury’.
In an emotionally-charged afternoon where some people were moved to tears, the mood was lifted when sporting heroes appeared on the screen from the legendary boxing Klitschko brothers to tennis players Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, and Manchester City footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, supporting Ukraine.
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch was thanked for willing to take a Ukrainian refugee, as was Harry Potter author J K Rowling for donations towards helping vulnerable children in Ukraine. Individual countries taking in refugees were also mentioned.
Gratitude was also expressed to Anonymous, a hacking group that had inflicted cyber-attacks on Putin’s regime, and to Stephen King, American author of horror, crime and supernatural fiction, seen wearing a t-shirt saying he stands with Ukraine.
There were calls for more people to come to the rallies, which had seen numbers wane. The war was still not over, war crimes were being committed, more planes and weapons for our army were still needed as it continues to fight for the country’s future.
Further protests are planned outside 10 Downing Street, on Wednesday, 6-8pm, Saturday and Sunday, 2-5pm, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson resides. Boris was praised for being at the forefront of support being given to Ukraine.
Ukrainians and Uyghurs unite in their fight for justice and freedom against their enemies, Russia and China, respectively. (Photo Credit: Tony Leliw)
Tony Leliw is a London-based freelance journalist who has had articles published in The Catholic Times, Universe, Ukrainian Weekly, BBC Ukrainian Service and Brama Gateway Ukraine. He has also worked for the Daily Star, Newsquest, Recorder Newspapers, and Trinity Mirror Publications.
