Thousands worldwide march against invasion of Ukraine

BERLIN • Dressed in the blue and yellow of Ukraine's flag and bearing posters like "No World War 3" and "Russians go home", hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets worldwide, denouncing Russia's invasion of its neighbour.

From Berlin to Baghdad, from Washington to St Petersburg, demonstrators on Sunday chanted "shame" against Russian President Vladimir Putin while others waved banners with slogans like "Putin murderer" or "stop the monster".

In the German capital, police estimated the turnout to be at least 100,000, while Prague drew 70,000 and Amsterdam, 15,000.

Organisers of the Berlin protest put the numbers at five times the police estimate, with demonstrators massing at the Brandenburg Gate, a stone's throw away from the imposing Russian embassy.

Although the embassy - in which Russian diplomats both work and live - was cordoned off by police, some protesters gathered in front, shouting "glory to Ukraine" and singing Ukrainian songs. "It is important to me for Germany to show that it is standing for democracy in Europe," said Mr Hans Georg Kieler, 49, who was at the demonstration.

Ukrainian Valeria Moiseeva was also at the march. "I hate Russia, I hate all Russians," the pregnant 35-year-old said, adding that her mother was now sitting in a cellar in Kyiv in fear of bombs.

In Russia's second city of St Petersburg, around 400 people gathered in defiance of strict protest laws, holding posters saying "No to war", "Russians go home" and "Peace to Ukraine".

More than 2,000 people were detained in demonstrations across the country on Sunday, following thousands of arrests last week, but protesters remained undeterred.

"It is a shame that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of us and not millions," 35-year-old engineer Vladimir Vilokhonov told Agence France-Presse in St Petersburg.

In the US capital, a few thousand people waved Ukrainian and American flags in front of the White House as they urged President Joe Biden to do more to halt Mr Putin's aggression.

"Something needs to be done, we can't just sit by and have another World War II or another Hitler take control," said Ms Diana Vasylkevych, a 24-year-old student wrapped in a Ukrainian flag.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE