Madrid (EFE).- A thousand Ukrainians, according to the Government Delegation in Madrid, have demonstrated this Sunday in Madrid’s Plaza de Colón to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demand an end to military hostilities, in the the anniversary of the start of the war, which began on February 24, 2022.
In the protest, called by the Community of Ukrainians in Spain for the rights, dignity and honor of Ukrainians, a multitude of flags of the country and posters with slogans such as ‘Peace’, ‘No to war’ or ‘Imperial wars’ have been seen , all criminals’.
A national banner about ten meters long has also been displayed, with Ukrainian songs in the background, in an atmosphere of respect and memory of the victims.
Dmytro Matiuschenko, Minister Counselor of the Ukrainian Embassy in Spain, explained to EFE that the demonstration was in response to the anniversary of the “large-scale Russian” invasion that “has cost the lives of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, with repercussions and dramatic consequences for Ukraine.”
But “the consequences of the Russian invasion for the whole world are also devastating,” he assured, “mainly because Russia is a terrorist state and terrorizes the world population in terms of threats of hunger and with the blockade of the Ukrainian ports, and causes the most vulnerable countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, to not be able to receive sufficient quantities of Ukrainian cereals”.
“The unity of the partners of the democratic countries is essential to defeat the Russian aggressor”, according to the Minister Counselor of the Ukrainian Embassy in Spain.
The vice-president of the table of the Madrid Assembly, Jorge Rodrigo Domínguez, has highlighted the support of the PP for the people of Ukraine and its citizens, especially those who reside in the Community of Madrid and the displaced persons who have arrived in the region due to of the conflict.
Rodrigo has revealed that the regional government has launched a series of initiatives “to provide them with all the necessary help and solidarity” so that they can have a “totally normalized and peaceful” life.
Yuri Chopyk, president of the Ukrainian Community in Spain for the rights of unity, dignity and honor of Ukrainians, who has been living in Spain for twenty years, has stressed that for a year “the lives of Ukrainians have changed, but also that the war disrupted the international order”.
He has remembered those who died in the conflict, “who have given their lives for their homeland”, and has stressed that from this conflict “new lessons must be drawn, among them, “Russia’s crimes in Ukraine”.
In addition, he has thanked the support of the Spanish and has made an appeal to “agree on peace” and not continue with the “Russian propaganda that goes on and on with a new tool of hybrid warfare.”
He has called for “international unanimous support” to continue, because Ukraine “deserves peace, a just peace with a victory for Ukraine, because the victory of Ukraine is a victory for the whole world.”
