The third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine will be marked in Brighton on Sunday (23 February) by Ukrainians in Sussex – as international tension about the conflict ramps up.
They will gather at the Unitarian church in New Road, Brighton, by the Dome and Corn Exchange, from 3pm, with a formal ceremony to honour the dead and remember the many other victims at 4pm.
As well as commemorating the anniversary of the invasion, they will be fundraising to help civilians who are under threat to evacuate from their homes near the front line.
There will be speeches and music – and the mayor of Brighton and Hove, Mohammed Asaduzzaman, will be in attendance. The public are also invited to go along.
Local volunteers, supported by Stand for Ukraine Brighton and Hove, have already funded four vehicles – two ambulances and two minibuses – to help communities affected since Russia attacked on Thursday 24 February 2022.
The latest van departed for Ukraine this week.
One recently came a cropper in Kupyansk, about 80 miles south east of the city of Kharkiv, and is in need of repairs.
Iryna Olyanovska, of Stand for Ukraine, said: “The ambulances are mainly used in the Kupyansk area.
“The vans are needed to help people evacuate from towns near the front. Many people do not have their own transport so the vans are the only way they can leave their communities.
“They are then moved to Kharkiv where they live in shelters or move to other parts of Ukraine.
“Because of the state of the roads, which are not good and full of potholes, and because the vans have to move as fast as they can so they are not targeted by Russian drones, they get damaged.”
The anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that he is prepared to send UK troops to Ukraine as part of any peacekeeping force, if there is a peace deal.
On Sunday, after the event in New Road, there will be a procession to the Brighton War Memorial, in Old Steine, to lay flowers at the Post-1945 Casualties Stone.
To donate to the local fundraising efforts, click here.
