'We pray to end this horror,' Ukrainian widows urge Russia to end eastern conflict

Record ID: 1429135

  • Title: 'We pray to end this horror,' Ukrainian widows urge Russia to end eastern conflict
  • Date: 28th August 2019
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WAR VETERAN FROM ZHYTOMYR REGION, OLEKSANDR (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "Sooner or later, I think the Russian Federation will kneel, (i.e. surrender) just like Germany did in the past. I hope for it. We should not be russophobic, but they are our enemies forever and ever. I am surprised why some people don't understand that."
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2019 13:06
  • Keywords: Russian embassy Russia rally east Ukraine mourners pro-Russian separatists killed servicemen Kiev protest
  • Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
  • City: KIEV, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA007AU4U6GP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ukrainian widows, who lost their husbands and sons in the country's eastern conflict, protested on Wednesday (August 28) outside the Russian embassy in Kiev, calling on Russia to stop supporting separatists, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
    Hundreds of women from all over Ukraine came with photographs of their loved ones and banners, some reading, 'The Kremlin is a murderer' and called for an end to the conflict.
    The conflict in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions followed the toppling of Ukraine's former Kremlin-backed president and the annexation of Crimean peninsula. Some 13,000 people have been killed since 2014 and sporadic fighting continues despite a national ceasefire brokered in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
    The protest also coincided with the fifth anniversary of a battle in the city of Ilovaysk. Ilovaysk, a major transport hub at the time, was under Russian-backed rebel control until Ukrainian volunteer battalions entered it, aiming to fully encircle Donetsk, the main industrial hub and the largest city in Ukraine's east about 40 km (25 miles) to the west. Fierce battles played out over the next several weeks leaving hundreds dead or injured, as well as several dozen Ukrainian soldiers being taken prisoner cumulating in the eventual defeat of Ukraine's armed forces.
    (Production: Margaryta Chornokondratenko, Yuriy Muravyov)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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