The Fort Worth Press - In city near border, Ukrainians protest Russian threat

USD -
AED 3.673025
AFN 70.203776
ALL 94.72991
AMD 399.571201
ANG 1.801147
AOA 911.999742
ARS 1024.764641
AUD 1.602564
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.707442
BAM 1.880387
BBD 2.017854
BDT 119.425657
BGN 1.881502
BHD 0.377297
BIF 2955.250141
BMD 1
BND 1.358023
BOB 6.906034
BRL 6.177099
BSD 0.999409
BTN 85.070401
BWP 13.880196
BYN 3.2706
BYR 19600
BZD 2.011028
CAD 1.43655
CDF 2870.000319
CHF 0.900396
CLF 0.035903
CLP 990.680377
CNY 7.295601
CNH 7.306215
COP 4373.91
CRC 507.443888
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 106.009258
CZK 24.13645
DJF 177.720371
DKK 7.173598
DOP 60.878469
DZD 135.004081
EGP 50.863486
ERN 15
ETB 127.249653
EUR 0.96125
FJD 2.31865
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.797901
GEL 2.809917
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.690824
GIP 0.791982
GMD 72.000304
GNF 8637.257305
GTQ 7.698187
GYD 209.094274
HKD 7.76645
HNL 25.392629
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.677858
HUF 395.7365
IDR 16216.65
ILS 3.64741
IMP 0.791982
INR 85.18175
IQD 1309.194745
IRR 42087.500038
ISK 139.550069
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.70906
JOD 0.709299
JPY 157.115033
KES 129.16048
KGS 87.000009
KHR 4016.86352
KMF 466.125009
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1458.444973
KWD 0.30818
KYD 0.832889
KZT 517.740827
LAK 21856.237051
LBP 89496.829647
LKR 294.535858
LRD 181.893348
LSL 18.583137
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.906047
MAD 10.078114
MDL 18.439307
MGA 4713.901828
MKD 59.187109
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.995077
MRU 39.894438
MUR 47.070373
MVR 15.400113
MWK 1732.998111
MXN 20.169298
MYR 4.487013
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.583316
NGN 1541.929994
NIO 36.775133
NOK 11.355299
NPR 136.112834
NZD 1.771166
OMR 0.384397
PAB 0.999418
PEN 3.721404
PGK 4.056165
PHP 58.810149
PKR 278.223998
PLN 4.096609
PYG 7794.405373
QAR 3.634825
RON 4.7843
RSD 112.340487
RUB 99.924559
RWF 1394.17276
SAR 3.753338
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.943269
SDG 601.501552
SEK 11.083899
SGD 1.3602
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.806991
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 571.18684
SRD 35.057964
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.744935
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.591213
THB 34.174978
TJS 10.933512
TMT 3.51
TND 3.186697
TOP 2.342097
TRY 35.11625
TTD 6.791557
TWD 32.642013
TZS 2419.999828
UAH 41.903581
UGX 3658.249328
UYU 44.484182
UZS 12902.047311
VES 51.575582
VND 25440
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 630.658148
XAG 0.033795
XAU 0.000382
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.766261
XOF 630.639959
XPF 114.657091
YER 250.374982
ZAR 18.690204
ZMK 9001.201804
ZMW 27.658746
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    0.0800

    11.73

    +0.68%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    58.86

    -0.27%

  • RIO

    -0.0300

    59.2

    -0.05%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    34.03

    -0.09%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    22.9

    +0.26%

  • AZN

    -0.3300

    66.3

    -0.5%

  • BCC

    0.9500

    123.19

    +0.77%

  • RBGPF

    -0.7000

    59.8

    -1.17%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    23.65

    +0.42%

  • CMSC

    -0.1321

    23.77

    -0.56%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.15

    +0.41%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    36.26

    +0.11%

  • BP

    0.0400

    28.79

    +0.14%

  • RELX

    0.3000

    45.89

    +0.65%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    7.25

    0%

  • VOD

    0.0600

    8.43

    +0.71%

In city near border, Ukrainians protest Russian threat
In city near border, Ukrainians protest Russian threat

In city near border, Ukrainians protest Russian threat

A Ukrainian flag wrapped around her shoulders, pensioner Iryna Gayeva had a simple message as she demonstrated in second city Kharkiv on Saturday, just 40 kilometres from the Russian border.

Text size:

"We do not want Russia," she told AFP, as she joined several thousand people for a "Unity March" called by nationalist groups.

"I was born in Crimea. That's enough, they've already taken a homeland from me. I grew up here, I live here, my parents are from Russia but I don't want to see any occupiers," she said.

"This is my home, these are my rules."

Russiaseized the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and began fuelling a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin has now massed more than 100,000 troops across the frontier, sparking fears from the West that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a major incursion.

Moscow denies it will invade and blames NATO for threatening its security by expanding into eastern Europe.

Kharkiv, an industrial and university centre with a million and a half inhabitants, many Russian-speaking, is more than 400 kilometres east of the capital Kyiv and right next to the Russian border.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that, given the population's strong links to Russia, the city could be a prime target for "occupation" if the situation escalates.

- 2014 unrest -

There appear grounds for the concern.

In 2014, as Russian-backed separatists took over two other eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, fears swirled that Kharkiv could be the next domino to fall.

Pro-Moscow protesters attacked the regional administration with molotov cocktails, as violence broke out with pro-Ukrainian activists.

Eventually Ukrainian forces managed to stop Kharkiv slipping from Kyiv's grasp, saving it from getting engulfed in a conflict that has cost 13,000 lives over the past eight years.

And now, those demonstrating insisted that Russian forces would not be welcome in Kharkiv as pro-Ukrainian patriotism has rocketed.

"In 2014, it was panic," recalled Gayeva.

"This time there is no panic but anger."

At her side, Nadia Rynguina is even more categorical.

"The situation has changed, we have an army worthy of the name, we have citizens ready to defend the country," she explained.

In the event of an intervention, Yury Shmylyov, 79, warned that "it will not be a walk in the park" for the Russian army.

"In 2014, we were afraid to display a blue and yellow flag here, but now look," he said, pointing at the gathered crowd.

- 'Constant threat' -

Behind a large banner reading "Kharkiv is Ukraine", the demonstrators marched between the city's two main squares in sub-zero temperatures.

They chanted patriotic slogans, sang the national anthem and carried signs thanking Britain and the United States for ramping up arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Galyna Kuts, a political scientist in Kharkiv and a member of the regional legislature, said Zelensky's warning of potential "occupation" set nerves jangling.

"Everyone was calling each other to ask what to do, where to flee," she said as she attended the rally.

But after years "living under constant threat of invasion", she insists resident in Kharkiv have steeled themselves for anything.

"People have changed, they know how to survive," she said.

Oleksandr Gerasimov has filled up his tank and is ready to evacuate his family if necessary.

But the 39-year-old demonstrator, insists he is "calm" as he does not believe Moscow will risk an attack against Ukraine's bolstered armed forces.

"Russia would suffer intolerable losses," he said.

P.Navarro--TFWP