Hundreds demonstrated against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine outside the Russian embassy in London on Wednesday night.
The protesters held up signs denouncing Vladimir Putin, which read “Putin hands off Ukraine”, “Putin kills” and “Ukraine will never surrender” outside the embassy in Kensington.
The protest came just hours before Putin officially launched military action against Ukraine, launching missiles into the capital Kiev and other major cities.
Alongside Ukrainian flags, demonstrators waved the flags of Georgia and Belarus, with one protester saying of Putin: “Old man take your meds!”
The protest was organised by a woman called Natalia, reported Reuters, who has been organising similar demonstrations since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
Another woman, also called Natalia, a 27-year-old musician, attended the rally. She said she has lived in Britain for the last four years and that she had never seen Ukrainians more “united in their opposition to Russia and Putin”.
Some of the protesters shed tears as they listened to speeches from Ukrainian students and journalists, as well as supporters from Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbour.
Footage of the event showed at least one attendee draping themselves with a British flag in a symbol of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Others shouted, “long live Belarus” while others held signs saying “Russia is big enough already”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to make an address to the nation in response to the crisis.
