Russian Woman With Her Family on Christmas Pics
Ukrainians Abroad Talk of Shock and Atheism every bit Homeland Is Invaded
Across Europe, Ukrainian expatriates looked on in horror at the scenes of destruction back home, and expressed feelings of hopelessness.
LONDON — Ukrainians living across Europe watched in horror and atheism from afar on Thursday as Russian federation's invasion of their home country began with shelling and rocket attacks in several cities.
Many shared feelings of helplessness every bit they received frantic calls from loved ones dorsum home describing attacks nearby, instructing them what to exercise if they were killed in the disharmonize, or sending requests to empty bank accounts.
At protests in London on Thursday, some wept. Some fingered prayer beads. And many said they were determined to heighten their voices and demand greater action by the world to end Russian assailment.
Yulia Tomashckuk, 29, wore sunglasses to shield her tears every bit she clutched a pocket-size Ukrainian flag. A village that neighbors her hometown in western Ukraine had been attacked, she said, news that her mother relayed to her past phone earlier dawn Thursday.
"I only felt I was useless sitting at home watching the news — here at to the lowest degree I can show in that location are people who support Ukraine, who are against war and who want Putin to exist shown his place," she said. "He needs to be stopped now."
The Russian president, Vladimir 5. Putin, was the focus of much of the outrage.
Chants of "Putin, hands off Ukraine" and "U.K. support Ukraine" echoed from the crowd of hundreds that gathered outside Prime Minister Boris Johnson'southward role at 10 Downing Street on Thursday.
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Even earlier Russian strikes on Ukraine began, United kingdom and the European Union earlier this week announced targeted sanctions against Moscow. On Th, Mr. Johnson announced new actions from Britain and its allies that included asset freezes on major banks and individuals, a ban on the Russian airline Aeroflot, and a ban on many technology exports to Russian federation.
Those who gathered near his office waved Ukrainian flags and demanded more stringent sanctions and broader actions from the West in response to Russian military action.
"I'chiliad shocked, probably like everyone, because my family is nonetheless in Ukraine," said Mariya Tymchyshyn, 30, who took time off work to join the protests. "We were panicked as well: We don't know what to exercise. No 1 can exist set up for this."
Ms. Tymchyshyn'due south family lives in the western office of Ukraine, away from the most fierce attacks, but she was worried for her grandparents, who as survivors of Globe War Two have already lived through intense fighting in Ukraine.
"It's probably the hardest office for usa," she said. "I was trying to at-home down my grandmother, only she remembers being a child at that fourth dimension and a bomb killed her mother. I desire peace for all of u.s.."
Inna Tereshchuk, 26, who has lived in Great britain for eight years, said her family members "are all scared for their lives."
She is trying to remain strong for them.
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"We don't know how long they will be alive, what Putin has on his mind," she said. "The whole globe knows about information technology, and no ane is doing anything."
She was joined at the protest past her friend Alina Clarke, 25, whose family lives virtually Kyiv. Ms. Clarke spoke with her father, who vowed to stand his footing, telling her that he was not going anywhere and planned "to stay until the end."
"I hope that in every city and town all over the world Ukrainians are going to come out and show that we are non afraid of Putin, and we want him to take his easily off our country," Ms. Clarke said. "Ukraine has every right to exist."
A small grouping besides gathered at the Russian Diplomatic mission in northwest London, where a number of protests have been held in recent days, but by Thursday forenoon they had taken on a more somber tone. Among the handful who stood outside the diplomatic mission were a number of Russians denouncing their regime's actions.
Tatiana Rudayak, 46, a Russian-British adult female who held a blue sign with the words "Stop the War" painted on in brilliant yellow paint, was keen to have her phonation heard.
"I am here because my country has started a war, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't protestation that," she said. "I was fluctuating between despair and fury and this is the only thing I tin practice."
Denis Zihiltsov, 34, who said he had non slept the night before, came to the embassy holding a sign in Russian that read, "I'm Russian and I demand y'all end killing our brothers. Glory to Ukraine."
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Prototype
Several of its members are Ukrainian and everyone knew someone trapped in the country.
Marichka Marczyk, at the rehearsals in London, said in a telephone interview that she'd only had a text exchange with her brother in Kyiv about what to do if he was killed in the conflict. "My will is unproblematic," he replied. "Burn down my body/scatter the ashes," adding: "All my riches to my child." Those riches include his honey bees.
Like scenes played out in cities across Europe, where Ukrainian expatriates were grappling with the troubling news from their homeland. In Berlin's Pariser Platz, hundreds of somber protesters wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags.
Lyudmyla Mlosch, 70, who runs an association for Ukrainians in Berlin, had been up since 5:30 a.m., trying to organize temporary shelter for friends, family and others who manage to leave the country. Her son and his family live in northwestern Ukraine and her grandson is studying at the university in Kyiv.
"My centre is cleaved in ii," Ms. Mlosch said.
She said: "I just feel helpless. When Putin says Ukraine belongs to Russia, I don't understand how he could do such a thing to his brother and his sister."
In Madrid, a small group of protesters, some in tears, gathered outside the Russian Embassy to demand an finish to the invasion. They waved Ukrainian flags and shouted "terrorists."
Nadiya Pshenychniak, a cleaner who has lived in Madrid for 20 years, said she was extremely worried for her family in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, including one daughter who recently had a kidney transplant. "This is, sadly, not such a big surprise," she said, "because Russia has always wanted Ukraine and has a long history of doing horrible things to our people."
Ms. Pshenychniak, 69, had plans to visit her family unit in the summer, but she now fears it may be some time before she sees them again.
Nearly the Russian Embassy in Rome, which was blocked off by the police, hundreds rallied.
"Just together can we win — nosotros have to remain united," said Oles Horodetskyy, the president of the Christian Association of Ukrainians in Italia, who helped organize the protest.
Mr. Horodetskyy said Ukrainian associations in Italy were organizing to "give as much help as possible," and hoped to create a humanitarian corridor to ship clothing and food to Ukraine. The details remain to be worked out.
"It's but the first day," Mr. Horodetskyy said with a sigh. "It'southward complicated."
Hundreds of Ukrainian expatriates living in France also protested in forepart of the massive, Soviet-way Russian Diplomatic mission in Paris, waving Ukrainian flags and singing patriotic songs.
"There'due south and so much emotion," said Valeria Skubrii, a 25-year-old sommelier in Paris, as the crowd behind her flare-up into the Ukrainian national anthem.
Ms. Skubrii said her parents called at 4 a.m. from Odessa, where they live, and where Russian troops landed before in the day.
"My begetter this morning went to get some medicine — a blast near him was so stiff that it threw him to the ground," she said.
Oleksandra Chevtchenko, a member of a feminist protestation group who fled Ukraine in 2013, said in a telephone interview from Paris that the invasion was "unbelievable."
"My heed is kind of frozen," she said. "I don't know what to practice, what to feel."
Reporting was contributed past Raphael Minder from Madrid, Alex Marshall from London, Elisabetta Povoledo from Rome, Gaia Pianigiani in Siena, Italia, Christopher F. Schuetze from Frankfurt and Constant Méheut from Paris.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/world/europe/ukraine-expats-invasion-protest.html