As Russian forces made advancements and captured the urban cities inside of the Ukrainian territory on Sunday, protests erupted against Russian military actions on Ukrainian citizens in Moscow’s St. Petersburg and other major Russian cities. Russian nationals flooded the streets in support of Ukraine’s civilians, urging their own country to stop the war and pursue the diplomatic negotiations with the neighbouring nation battling the third day of an all-out invasion by the powerful Russian forces.
While the Russian riot police were heavily deployed and detentions were made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a presser that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “hears everyone’s opinion”. He also outlined the importance of defending his own territory against provocations. Russians also claimed that they were warned any act that denounces their own armed forces and leadership would be treated as “treason”. Makar Zadorozhny, a Moscow actor, published a letter online to back this claim. The letter obtained by The Telegraph read: “Negative comments will be treated as treason.”
A man holds a poster that reads “No War” during protests to end the Russia Ukraine conflict. [Credit: AP/Denis Kaminev]
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky thanks Russians protesting to ‘stop war’
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meanwhile expressed gratitude for the Russians for their support as his country witnessed widescale destruction and combat troop losses in the hands of Russian soldiers. Zelinsky also conveyed a message about hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers that died on Ukrainian soil and their bodies were waiting to be collected. He appealed that Russia must stop the atrocities immediately resulting in casualties on both sides.”I want the people of Russia to hear me,” he said in a video address.
A man holds his daughter after she and her mother fled the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania. [Credit: AP]
“Absolutely everyone.”[There are] thousands of dead [Russian] soldiers, hundreds of prisoners of war who don’t understand why they sent them to Ukraine, sent them to Ukraine to die and kill others. The sooner you tell your leaders that the war needs to be immediately stopped, the more your soldiers will survive.”
Ukraine’s leader thanked the Russians and also praised the “thousands” of Russian protesters that came out on the streets demonstrating to end the war. The OVD-Info monitor agency that tracks arbitrary arrests estimated that more than 3,000 Russian citizens were detained during the mass protests related to Kyiv’s invasion. In neighbouring former Soviet republic Georgia, nearly 30,000 came out on the streets of the capital Tbilisi condemning the confrontations on both sides that resulted in the loss of lives of the uniformed combat men.
Moscow-backed forces have held Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the Russia-backed separatist movement and a war in 2008. Citizens demanded that such atrocities must end, as they appealed for peace and sang the national anthem. In Iran, outside the Ukrainian Embassy, a sea of civilians gathered carrying candles and the Ukrainian flag asking to end the war. The Iranian government made comments on Ukraine and Russia’s confrontation blaming the NATO alliance while not holding Russia accountable due to its ties. Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian said on state TV that the war is “rooted in NATO’s provocations” as he called for an end to the fighting, adding that war is not a “political and democratic solution.”