Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky chose the date for this great display of patriotism after US intelligence reports suggesting that the Russian invasion of the country could take place precisely on February 16, 2022.
This Wednesday morning, on Independence Square in Kiev, the center of the pro-European revolution of 2014, a modest demonstration was held, report our special envoys in Kiev, Anastasia Becchio and Boris Vicith. In the middle of a group of young people, Sofia Zakrasnyana waves a yellow and blue flag. ” I’m not afraid, but others, like my parents are worried, she testifies. They wanted to go to Poland yesterday, but I convinced them to stay. Today most people are at work, everything will be fine, I think. »
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Among the few dozen demonstrators, employees of the neighboring Ukrainian post office, but also members of youth organizations from President Zelensky’s party. Such is the case of 20-year-old Roman Dodyak, who has lived in Kyiv since fleeing Donetsk with his family in 2014. The aggression predicted by the European media did not happen and I think everything will be better now “, he assures.
Videos of tanks and military vehicles
For its part, Russia announced the end of military maneuvers and the departure of some of its forces from the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea on Wednesday February 16. These return to the barracks after, in particular, artillery exercises, firing tests carried out over a distance of about 30 km, indicates the Russian Ministry of Defense which, as on Tuesday when the end other military exercises, shows videos of vehicles departing for their home garrisons.
Tanks, infantry vehicles and artillery by rail, covered trucks, framed by police cars in convoy on the Kerch bridge, inaugurated by Vladimir Putin, and which connects the Crimean peninsula to Russia. An additional announcement after the first withdrawal on Tuesday.
The separatist republics in question
In military fatigues, Andrei Stefanov listens to the Ukrainian anthem with his hand on his heart. Veteran of the Donbass war, he fears a new runaway in the East. ” I am convinced that there will be no full-scale war, it will not bring any benefit to Russia. On the other hand, I am convinced that they will get busy in Donetsk, Lugansk, Mariupol, he judges. But they have known us since 2014, they know that we have not given up and that we have become stronger. Their action over, the demonstrators pack up their sound system and flags and go back to their work or their studies.
” Russia is doing everything to avoid a war with Ukraine today, the day after tomorrow or never, explained this Wednesday an elected official in the Duma, but thousands of Russian citizens live today in the unrecognized republics of Donbass and we will do everything to protect them. The pressure-negotiation therefore seems to be shifting to the terrain of the separatist republics. The exercises in Belarus are still taking place and are scheduled until Sunday.