Moscow, Feb 27, (dpa/GNA) – Tens of thousands of demonstrators throughout Europe showed their support for Ukraine on Saturday, with some calling on Russians to oppose President Vladimir Putin on the third day of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Meanwhile there were also growing protests in Russia, despite increasing numbers of arrests.
“We, Russian doctors, nurses, and paramedics, are decidedly against the attacks conducted by Russian troops on Ukrainian territory,” read a petition in Russia that was signed by more than 300 people.
Dozens of Russian humanitarian organizations published an open letter to Putin, asking him to stop the war: “War is a humanitarian catastrophe that leads to pain and suffering… We consider violent solutions to political conflicts inhumane and call upon you to cease fire and begin negotiations.”
More than 3,000 people have been arrested since Thursday at demonstrations against the war.
There have been at least 3,093 arrests in the past three days, the civil rights group OWD-Info reported on Saturday evening. Almost 2,000 people were arrested on the first day alone, immediately after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian authorities have urged citizens not to take part in protests, which have been banned due to the alleged risk of coronavirus transmission.
Russian authorities prefer to speak of a “military operation” in Ukraine and have been taking action against the use of the word “war” in the media.
Foreign television channels have been blocked for days in a large residential and office complex in the centre of Moscow, where many diplomats and foreign correspondents live and work alongside Russian officials.
The management of the building has blamed a failure of the satellite systems and has offered to activate Russian state channels instead.
Putin has justified his war on Ukraine by saying that he wanted to disarm the NATO-aspiring country and liberate it from its “neo-Nazi” government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of unprecedented aggression and declared resistance.
Even a member of the Russian Communist Party demanded an end to the war. He said that it had not been his intention to unleash a war with his vote in parliament to recognize the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.
On social media, many Russians have voiced their dismay at the war in Ukraine.
Protests were held throughout Europe, drawing tens of thousands who were eager to show their support for Ukraine.
There were rallies held in several cities in Estonia. In the capital Tallinn, several thousand people gathered at Freedom Square in the city centre to protest against the war. According to police, at times it was estimated that up to 30,000 demonstrators were present at the rally and the subsequent solidarity concert for Ukraine.
“The world we knew a week ago no longer exists,” President Alar Karis said in his speech at the rally. He said the current war in Ukraine was “inconceivable, absurd and horrific.”
He appealed to his compatriots to “open the souls and the doors of Estonia to the Ukrainian refugees.”
In Switzerland, 20,000 people protested in Bern, calling for peace in Ukraine, organizers said.
The demonstration in the traditionally neutral country was directed at Putin, but also the Swiss government for not fully following the European Union’s raft of sanctions on Russia.
“It is irresponsible for the government not to immediately freeze the billions of Swiss francs in Russian hands,” C�dric Wermuth, a co-president of the Swiss Social Democrats, said in a speech.
Several thousand people protested in Vienna, with one Ukrainian woman in the crowd called for Russians to show active resistance to Putin.
“Do something for God’s sake,” she said in Russian. Another demonstrator told Russians outside of Russia to contact relatives there and push for protests.
In Bulgaria, about 200 people carrying Ukrainian flags gathered in front of the presidential office in the centre of the capital Sofia and similar events were also held in the Black Sea cities of Varna and Burgas.
In Germany, thousands of people also protested in Frankfurt, where many carried blue and yellow Ukrainian flags in a show of solidarity with the eastern European country.
Rallies, demonstrations and vigils were also planned in many other places in Germany on Saturday.
Further north, more than 10,000 people joined several rallies held in Helsinki and other cities.
Finland has a long border with Russia stretching over 1,300 kilometres. People are therefore watching the events in Ukraine with particular concern.
Only on Friday, a Russian government spokeswoman had issued a threat towards Finland. Should the country join NATO, this would have “serious military and political consequences,” she said.
Thousands of people also turned out in Israel on Saturday to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, demanding an end to the war and more support for Ukraine, according to local media.
Israeli-Ukrainian ties are strong and Ukraine has been a large source of immigration to Israel in recent years, with as many as 7,000 Ukrainian immigrants arriving in the country per year.
According to estimates, around 43,000 Jews currently live in Ukraine, while a further 15,000 Israeli nationals call the country home, according to the Foreign Ministry.
GNA