THOUSANDS RALLY PROCLAIMING ‘KHARKIV IS UKRAINE’ AGAINST RUSSIAN THREAT

Sun 06 February 2022:

Thousands took to the streets of Ukraine’s second-largest city on Saturday carrying banners saying “Kharkiv is Ukraine” and “stop Russian aggression”, as the country braced for a possible military offensive from Russia.

Weeks of diplomacy between the West and Moscow have produced no breakthrough after Russia massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine’s borders.

Moscow denies it plans to attack Ukraine but has demanded security guarantees, including a block on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.

Kharkiv, an eastern industrial city that lies 42 km (26 miles) from the Russian border, was identified by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a possible Russian target, though his spokesman later said he was speaking hypothetically.

Demonstrators in Kharkiv sang the national anthem and waved Ukrainian flags, or held up flags of allies that have supported Kyiv, including the United States, Britain and the European Union.

“The people came into the streets to demonstrate that Kharkiv is a Ukrainian city and we will not surrender it,” said Kharkiv resident Nina Kvitko.

2014 unrest

Russia seized the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and began fuelling a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

In 2014, as Russian-backed separatists took over two other eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, fears swirled that Kharkiv could be the next domino to fall.

Pro-Moscow protesters attacked the regional administration with Molotov cocktails, as violence broke out with Ukrainian activists.

Eventually, Ukrainian forces managed to stop Kharkiv from slipping from Kyiv’s grasp, saving it from getting engulfed in a conflict that has cost 13,000 lives over the past eight years.

And now, those demonstrating insist that Russian forces would not be welcome in Kharkiv as Ukrainian patriotism has rocketed.

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