The Russians may have thought they would defeat the Ukrainian forces defending Kyiv within days when the invasion began on February 24 this year. But the Ukrainians defended themselves well, and managed to stop the Russians before they reached the center of the city. In the attempt, the Russians suffered heavy losses, losing a large number of tanks and other military vehicles. Now the Ukrainians have collected many of the destroyed vehicles and exhibited them in a kind of open war museum in the center of Kyiv. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense calls the exhibition a “reminder to all dictators of what happens when they attack a free and brave nation.” At the weekend, spectacle-seeking residents flocked to the main street Khreshchatyk. There, those who wanted could climb on destroyed Russian armored personnel carriers or take a selfie on top of a burnt-out tank. The exhibition takes place a few days before Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24. The day marks that it has been 31 years since Ukraine gained its independence, but also that it has been half a year since Russia started the invasion. – Must stick together Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi warned against Russian provocations on Independence Day on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns against brutal attacks on Independence Day, August 24. Photo: president.gov.ua – We must fight for Ukraine’s victory. There is still a lot to do, we must stand together and still endure a lot, unfortunately a lot of pain, said the president. He warned that Russia could use the day for particularly brutal attacks. – That’s how the enemy is. Every single week this six months, Russia has done heinous and evil things all the time, he said, pointing to what he called Russian terror in Kharkiv and Donbas where there are daily rocket attacks. Curfew In the capital there is a ban on public gatherings from Monday to Thursday, and in Kharkiv a curfew has been announced from Tuesday to Thursday. This is how Khreshchatyk, the main street in Kyiv, looked on February 27, three days after the invasion began. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP There will also be a curfew in the port city of Odesa, where news’s correspondent Roger Severin Bruland is located. He says that the organizers of a planned concert on Wednesday moved the concert to Sunday so that residents of the city could attend it. – Wants to humiliate us – One of the main goals of the enemy is to humiliate us, so despair, fear and conflict. But we must be strong enough to resist all provocations and force the occupiers to pay for their terror, Zelenskyj says. It has been speculated whether Russia would put Ukrainian prisoners of war from Mariupol on trial in connection with the Ukrainian National Day, and adviser to Zelenskyj, Mykhailo Podoljak warns that Russia may step up the bombing. He called Russia an archaic state that is obsessed with the fact that actions can be linked to specific dates.
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Crowds flock to see destroyed Russian tanks – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
