Protests and events in Cyprus to mark one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Demonstrations against the war in Ukraine were held in Nicosia and Limassol on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country.

Holding banners and placards, Ukrainians and Russians who oppose the war protested in Nicosia and Limassol on Friday night to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

An anti-war protest was held at 6pm in Nicosia, outside the Russian Embassy in Cyprus, followed by a march to the Eleftheria square, while in Limassol the protest started at 6.30pm outside the Russian Consulate and continued with a march to the Limassol pier.

The protesters held flags of Ukraine and a variant flag of Russia, without the red colour, and shouted slogans for an end to the war and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Alongside the protest in Limassol, the city’s Ukrainian community organised a different anti-war event at an arts centre, with an artistic programme, a film screening, a photography exhibition and a painting exhibition.

At the event, there was a reading of notes from the “War Diary” by Ukrainian Film Academy member and now a soldier in the war Anton Filatov, a screening of the documentary “Follow me”, which is about rescuing civilians with the help of drones, and an online discussion with the film’s director Lubomir Levitsky. In parallel, a charity auction of artworks by Iryna Manukovska and war photographs by Arsen Fedosenko was held.

Moreover, another protest event against the war in Ukraine, entitled “Light will win over darkness”, was organised at 7.30pm by the Ukrainian-Cypriot friendship community in Eleftheria Square, Nicosia.