(Frankfurt) “Russia out of Ukraine!” »: thousands of people demonstrated their support for Ukraine on Saturday in Europe on the day of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion, even if a very small proportion of public opinion believes in a victory for Kyiv.
In Germany, some 5,000 people, according to police, gathered in Berlin carrying Ukrainian flags or banners: “Defend Ukraine” or “Arm Ukraine, now”.
The demonstrators were as many in Cologne. Several thousand others have been recorded in Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart in particular.
“Our place in this fight for freedom is alongside our Ukrainian friends,” the city’s mayor, Kai Wegner, said at the Berlin rally.
The Brandenburg Gate, which during the Cold War ran alongside the wall that split the metropolis in two, is to be illuminated in the evening in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine.
PHOTO ODD ANDERSEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Demonstration in Berlin
“The West must do more to support Ukraine,” Achem Lobreuer, a 58-year-old engineer who came to demonstrate in Frankfurt, told AFP.
“If we have more weapons, we will be able to protect ourselves and also recover the territories conquered” by Russia in eastern Ukraine, adds Maksym Godovnikov, a 38-year-old Ukrainian.
“Putin assassin!” »
In France, thousands of people also marched to show their support for Kyiv, sometimes shouting “Putin assassin!” » or “Russia out of Ukraine!” “.
In Paris, Lille (north), Rouen (west), Nice or Toulouse (south), Ukrainians and French people, often wrapped in the Ukrainian flag, gathered to express their solidarity, but also their concern at a time when the forces of Kyiv, lacking weapons and ammunition, are in a very difficult position facing Russian troops.
PHOTO GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Demonstration in Paris
In Britain, several thousand people marched from Hyde Park to demonstrate in Trafalgar Square in a sea of Ukrainian flags.
Crown of flowers on her head, Anna Gyev, a 16-year-old Ukrainian, who came with her mother, wants to “show people that the war is not over […] people are still dying, children are still dying, because of terrorism” from Russia.
In Dublin, thousands marched in a rally organized by the Ukrainian community in the country, which has hosted 100,000 refugees since the start of the war.
In Bern, where several thousand people gathered, political leaders asked Switzerland, a neutral country which refuses the export of Swiss weapons to Ukraine, to commit further to help the country at war.
“No business with Putin,” demanded Green National Councilor (MP) Balthasar Glättli, who calls for the freezing of funds from the Russian state and the oligarchs, and their use for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
In Sweden, several thousand people also gathered in Stockholm under the slogan “Russia out of Ukraine”. “It is important that we show our support for Ukraine and their difficult fight,” Anders Engström, 61, told AFP.
PHOTO CAISA RASMUSSEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protest in Stockholm, Sweden
Rallies also took place in Belgrade, where several hundred Serbs and Russian citizens, having chosen exile after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, joined a rally led by the Ukrainian ambassador.
In Italy, a few hundred people took part in a demonstration in Milan called “Victory for Peace” at the initiative of pro-Ukrainian associations. In Greece, four hundred people gathered in the center of Athens.
In Madrid, there were some 1,500 people, including many Ukrainians (the country will welcome 83,000 in 2022), to march brandishing signs affirming that “Donbass is Ukraine” or castigating Putin “the assassin “.
“We feel their deaths as our own, and we will continue to help Ukraine defend the principles of peace, freedom and security,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said in Toledo.
Pessimism
Despite this mobilization, European citizens are pessimistic about Ukraine’s chances of winning the war against Russia, according to a poll in twelve EU countries, published this week.
According to this survey for the think tank European Council on International Relations (ECFR), only 10% of respondents predict a victory for Ukraine on the ground.
Some 20% anticipate that of Russia, while 37% believe that the war will end with some form of “compromise”.
However, 41% of respondents believe the EU should either “increase” or “maintain” its support for Ukraine at current levels in the event of an end to US support under a possible Trump presidency.
In Germany itself, a country at the forefront of aid to Ukraine, after two years of war only 25% of the population believes in a victory for Kyiv, while 40% think the opposite.