Hundreds of demonstrations in Lisbon against Moscow “genocide” and “ecocide”

Hundreds of Ukrainians demonstrated this Sunday outside the Russian embassy in Lisbon against the offensive against Ukraine, accusing the Moscow regime of “genocide” and “ecocide” and calling on the Portuguese parliament to determine that Russia is “producing terrorism.”

A banner reading “The World with One Voice: We are Ukraine” marked the meeting point where hundreds of people of all ages gathered at 11:00 am and about an hour a few meters from the Russian embassy in Lisbon, calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and condemnation of Moscow.

Speaking to reporters, the president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal, Pavlo Sadokha, stressed that the main purpose of the action was “to show another cruelty, another terrorist act that Russia carried out in Ukraine by destroying the Kakhovka dam.”

“Today we want to say that this disaster is no longer only against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people or against Ukrainian nature, because we call this terrorist act an act of ecocide against the nature of Ukraine. This is already an act against nature in Ukraine. The natural environment of Europe,” he said.

The authorities of Ukraine reported on June 6 about the breakthrough of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which led to the flooding of parts of the regions of the Kherson and Nikolaev regions.

The collapse of the infrastructure, which Kiev and Moscow blame each other for, has “greatly disrupted” the main source of drinking water on the Crimean peninsula (Russian-annexed territory) – the North Crimean Canal, which receives water from the Kakhovka reservoir.

During the concentration, the Portuguese “sixth appeal to the Assembly of the Republic” was read, in which the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal asks Portuguese parliamentarians to “clearly define that Russia is a state that supports, supplies and produces terrorism.”

“What is happening in Ukraine is a genocide carried out by the Russian state against Ukrainians,” Pavel Sadokha said, believing that “recognition, legal, legal definition of crimes against humanity and against nature, made by Russia, can help block Russia.” “.

“It can help to impose more sanctions, unite more countries that will support Ukraine and the world, all the countries that helped Ukraine before, to stop this war,” he added.

The opinion, which is shared by Olga Yakovets, who defends Lusa, is that “the last terrorist attack they carried out in Kakhovka is inexplicable, and they did not allow people to be saved.”

“They are terrorists and the whole world needs to recognize this and must do something, because we are all human,” he said.

Among the various demonstrators waving placards – “Russians stop Putin” (“Russians stop Putin”), “Putin, The Hague is waiting for you” or “Peace for Ukraine” (“Peace for Ukraine”) – who sang the anthem from Ukraine and paid tribute to the victims war, there was also Sofia Kucher, only 17 years old, living with her parents, brother and grandmother in Portugal.

“Were here [na manifestação] to guarantee peace on our land, to get out of this terrible state in which our land is, we want peace and nothing more. We want our territory and that our nation never dies,” he said, expressing fear for the rest of the family, who are in a country at war.

Sofya’s voice against the war unleashed by the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022, is joined by the voice of Olga Berezhnaya: “For the first time I am here today because I am a refugee, first of all, and I was forced to leave my home.”

“I am here today to express our support and protest against the genocide, because what Russia is doing is not just killing our people, just our nation, but the entire ecosystem. I believe that this is a worldwide problem,” he stressed, thanking the Government of Portugal and the citizens for their support.

Among the few Portuguese present today was Manuel Domingos, because he “unmistakably and unconditionally supports the Ukrainian cause.”

“Every act of Russian imperialism is reprehensible to say the least. He is hateful and unreasonable and has a plan behind him which is to occupy as much territory as possible that they can occupy. If Ukraine remains, we are all in danger, so their fight is our fight,” he said.

Therefore, Natalia Barchuk believes that “all demonstrations since the beginning of the war are important,” so the current situation “cannot” be forgotten.

“There are rules, there are norms, but we know who lived in the former Soviet Union, we already know that Russia does not comply with anything,” he said, adding that “Russian propaganda, unfortunately, is very strong and powerful and, to Unfortunately, there are many people who believe.”