Status: 06.03.2022 6:59 p.m
At a rally against the Russian occupation in Nowa Kakhovka in southern Ukraine, several people are said to have been injured by shots from Russian soldiers. President Selenskyj had previously called for protests.
Russian forces shot at protesters in areas they control. In the southern Ukrainian city of Nowa Kakhovka, five people who had protested against the occupation of the city by Russian troops were injured, the Ukrainian news agency Interfax reported, citing eyewitnesses.
Around 2,000 people took to the streets in Nowa Nachkowka against the Russian invasion. They waved Ukrainian flags and called on Russian troops to withdraw. There were similar protests in other cities: according to Interfax, several hundred people protested in the city of Kalachanka; in Berdyansk and Melitopol several thousand took to the streets against the Russian invasion.
Selenskyj calls for resistance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously called on his compatriots in a video speech to expel Russian troops from the country. “We have to go outside! We have to fight! Whenever there is an opportunity,” Zelenskyj said. As in Cherson, Berdyansk or Melitopol, the Ukrainians should go outside “and drive this evil out of our cities”.
In the past few days, there have been reports from the Ukrainian cities mentioned by Zelenskyy that unarmed civilians have opposed the Russian units. Since humans have done this, the occupation is only temporary. It is also important to prevent the establishment of new people’s republics.
Zelenskyj also addressed the citizens of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country in Russian. “If they haven’t erased your memory with propaganda, your eyes aren’t closed in fear – fight for your rights, freedom, Ukraine,” he said.
“We are waiting for everything to end”
According to the AP news agency, hundreds of people protested against the Russian occupation in the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson the previous day. They waved Ukrainian flags and shouted, “Go home!” The regional capital had already fallen under Russian control last week. About 2,000 people attended the rally, according to the BBC.
Commenting on the current situation in Kherson, journalist Marina Krasilnikova of the Eurovision Social Newswire said: “Today was the second day of a peaceful rally in the city center. We came out with our Ukrainian flags to show that we are the Ukrainian people. The Russian military stood nearby with machine guns and snipers. There were also armored cars.”
Food and medicine are now scarce, according to Krasilnikova. There is no safe corridor to bring them into the city. “We are persevering, continue to believe in our military and are waiting for everything to end,” Krasilnikova said.