Entering third year of Putin's full scale invasion - tensions in Poland rise over support for Ukraine
CTV
As hundreds of people chanted “Slava Ukraini” in front of the Polish Parliament to demonstrate against Vladmir Putin’s war on Ukraine, one young woman draped in the yellow and blue flag of her homeland, stood on the periphery of the crowd with tears welling in her eyes.
As hundreds of people chanted “Slava Ukraini” in front of the Polish Parliament to demonstrate against Vladmir Putin’s war on Ukraine, one young woman draped in the yellow and blue flag of her homeland, stood on the periphery of the crowd with tears welling in her eyes.
Victoria Hrynichyshun, a woman in her 20s, told CTV News, that she moved to Warsaw in 2015, fleeing with her family shortly after Russia's annexation of Crimea. Her “heart was still in Ukraine,” she said in broken English.
Now she was plagued by the same fear of uncertainty for loved ones who remained behind. In the two years since Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine, two of her friends who joined the Ukrainian army were killed in combat, while her aunt’s neighborhood in Kherson has been repeatedly shelled.
“I see (the) news. Everyday I don't know what will happen,” Hrynichyshun said as she wiped away tears.
Down the hill from the Sejm Parliamentary district, a makeshift memorial was erected in front of the towering gates of the Russian Embassy. Hundreds of wooden crosses, glowing in candlelight and bearing the names of Ukrainian victims stretched nearly 50 metres along the sidewalk. The memorial commemorated just a small number of people killed by Russians in the past 730 days.
The United Nations estimates that at least 10,000 civilians and nearly 20,000 more have been killed since Feb. 24, 2022. The death toll of combatants is even higher.
In November, a Ukrainian civil group estimated that more than 30,000 of the country’s soldiers have died, while a declassified U.S. intelligence report estimates that more than 315,000 Russian troops, or 90 per cent of its personnel have been killed attacking Ukraine.
