Ap, Afp, Sputnik and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 25, 2024, p. 20
kyiv. Ukraine marked the 33rd anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union yesterday, with tributes to civilians and soldiers killed in the ongoing war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took part in the celebrations in Kiev’s St. Sophia Square alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Independence is the silence we experience when we lose our people“Independence goes down into shelters during an airstrike, only to endure and rise again to tell the enemy: ‘You will not achieve anything,’” Zelensky told the nation.
In central kyiv, people marched wearing festive vyshyvankas, traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts; some took photos with the yellow and blue national flag in front of a sign reading: I love Ukrainenear a makeshift memorial to the fallen soldiers. Many people flocked to the capital from various regions. Without fireworks, parades or concerts, Ukrainians flooded social media with messages of gratitude and support, greeting each other and expressing their thanks to the soldiers serving on the front lines.
In retaliation for the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian president banned, by law, the Orthodox Church linked to Moscow.
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) reported on its website that The draft law on amendments to some laws on the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine It was returned yesterday with Zelensky’s signature.
Russia and Ukraine also exchanged prisoners yesterday, but also drone, missile and artillery strikes. The successful exchange of a total of 230 prisoners of war, 115 from each side, took place in a new deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
In this context, the Russian Ministry of Emergencies reported that Over the past day, more than 3,200 people left the Kursk region. Also, Seven convoys delivered 3 thousand tons of humanitarian aid to the Kursk regionthe ministry said.
Fighting continued into the early hours of Sunday. Five civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, regional governor Viachestlav Gladkov said.
To our great sadness, the enemy bombing claimed the lives of five civilians.Gladkov posted on Telegram.