Hundreds of people gathered in Eduardo VII Park in Lisbon yesterday to celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day, as in Lagos the Ukrainian FelizOnda festival came to a close, flying the flag for the country locked in a war of survival.
In Lisbon, Ukrainian ambassador Maryna Mykhailenko made a point of thanking Portugal for its continued support in the war against Russia, but the event showed that no matter what the US president may be thinking, Ukrainians are aware that they have to keep fighting if they are to hold on to their independence.
Indeed Mykhailenko said that more will need to be done in/ by Europe.
“Today is Ukraine’s independence day”, she said, “but it’s not about independence, it is about reestablishing independence,” given that Russia invaded Ukraine (for the second time) on February 24, 2022.
“The support of our partners is extremely important, including and especially Portugal, because for me it is extremely important that Portugal, the Portuguese government and the Portuguese people are among those who support us most in Europe,” said the ambassador, highlighting the security agreement that sees Portugal providing €226 million for military and humanitarian support (“we are very grateful for that”).
The truth is that more is needed, as the country continues to reel from Russian attacks.
Pavlo Sadokha, president of the Association of Ukrainians, told reporters (as he has so many times in the recent past) “Putin’s goal is not to win peace, Putin’s goal is for Ukraine to cease to exist.
“One of the objectives of this demonstration, which is taking place not only in Portugal but in several cities and around the world, is to once again ask politicians from NATO countries, from countries that support Ukraine, that have the strength to support it, to show Putin that no one will allow the terror he perpetrates in Ukraine.”
The problems facing Ukraine on this latest Day of Independence are really no different to the ones the country has been facing since the last Russian invasion: all the talk about ‘stopping the killing’ appears to have been ‘for the cameras’. The Trump/ Putin summit in Alaska got nowhere near any kind of ceasefire, and appears to have equally got nowhere near the bilateral meeting proposed (by Mr Trump) between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy.
Russia meantime has been seen apparently ‘hoarding troops’ ahead of a new military offensive.
Source material: LUSA/ Telegraph
