Huge Ukrainian flag painted on road outside Russian embassy in protest – National | 24CA News

Activists in London dumped gallons of yellow and blue paint in entrance of the Russian embassy in assist of Ukraine on Thursday morning. The protest comes on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Photos and movies of the demonstration confirmed activists in painter’s coveralls lugging wheelbarrows filled with paint sacs on Bayswater Road, close to Hyde Park in Kensington.

As they uncorked the sacs and let the paint spill out, different protestors with giant brooms unfold the pigment throughout the busy intersection till it resembled the Ukrainian flag. Another organizer in a high-visibility jacket directed automobiles to drive slowly by means of the demonstration.

A big group of spectators gathered to look at the protest as automobiles continued to go by means of, selecting up yellow and blue paint on their tires.

The group answerable for the stunt, Led by Donkeys, wrote in an announcement: “Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Putin’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine, an independent state and a people with every right to self-determination. The existence of a massive Ukrainian flag outside his embassy in London will serve to remind him of that.”

Four folks, three males and one lady, had been arrested in reference to the protest on suspicion of legal harm and obstructing the freeway, the Met Police confirmed to MyLondon. They are at present being detained at a West London police station.

Led by Donkeys is an artwork activist group that fashioned to protest Brexit, however its focus has since grown to deal with different social points. The identify Led by Donkeys comes from the phrase ‘lions led by donkeys,” a saying from the First World War that referred to the assumption that British troopers had been being led to their deaths by incompetent leaders.

The activists stated they created the huge flag in entrance of the Russian embassy with 170 litres of yellow paint unfold within the eastbound lane and an identical quantity of blue paint within the westbound lane. They famous the paint was “high-standard, non-toxic, solvent-free, eco-friendly, fast-dry edible paint designed for making road art.”

One Londoner who drove by means of the protest shared a photograph on Twitter of his blue-tinted wheels.

“Shame about my wheels,” he wrote. “Still, that protest put a huge smile on my face!”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022. Just earlier than the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded together with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to get off the struggle path, cautioning that an invasion would solely carry “an abundance of pain filth, blood and death” to their doorsteps.

One yr into the struggle, these phrases proceed to ring true.

The numbers are dizzying: lots of of 1000’s of Russian males have escaped overseas to keep away from being thrown into battle; thousands and thousands of Ukrainians have been uprooted from their houses; tens of billions of {dollars} have poured into weaponry that’s making struggle ever extra deadly; and trillions extra {dollars} estimated have been misplaced for the worldwide economic system. And even these figures don’t do justice to the human and financial prices.

Of the physique depend — certainly an important tally, however saved underneath wraps by each side — all that may be stated with certainty is that it’s horrific. Western officers estimate it to be within the many tens of 1000’s and rising inexorably.

But Ukraine nonetheless exists; that in itself is a stinging defeat for the Kremlin.

— With recordsdata from The Associated Press

5:06One yr into Russia’s struggle towards Ukraine

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