Sawt Falasteen - Tank wreck, protests mark Ukraine war anniversary in Europe

On the first anniversary of the war, leaders across Europe joined in ceremonies underlining unwavering support for Ukraine and commemorating victims of the conflict.

Crowds fell silent for a minute at Tallinn's Freedom Square where EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gathered for a ceremony for the fallen.

In London, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak observed a minute's pause in front of Downing Street, before the Ukrainian anthem was sung by two singers dressed in traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirts.

Leaders from France's President Emmanuel Macron to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Britain's King Charles III published messages condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin's war.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the National Theatre in Warsaw and the European Commission's building in Brussels were lit up in the blue-yellow colours of Ukraine's flag late Thursday, while the Colosseum in Rome followed suit on Friday.

Protesters against Russia's invasion gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, with some holding up blue and yellow umbrellas amid the drizzle.

- 'Reality much closer' -

Enno Lenza and Wieland Giebel, who operate a private German museum, said they had stationed the tank wreck by Russia's imposing embassy off the Brandenburg Gate "as a symbol of Russia's downfall".

"We want to put their scrap metal in front of the gates of the terrorists," said Giebel, who for months was caught in a bureaucratic tangle with Berlin authorities over the tank installation.

The tank, a T72 B1 from 1985, was damaged on March 31 last year near Bucha, the town near Kyiv which has become a byword for alleged Russian war crimes.

Sabine Ertl, a tourist on holiday in Berlin, said the tank was both "impressive and scary".

"It brings this reality much closer," she told AFP.

- 'Fast action' -

Lorenzo Graif, a student from Chile studying in Berlin, said the installation was a "good way to demonstrate in front of the embassy".

At an event led by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who underlined that Kyiv could count on Berlin, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky beamed in a message thanking Western allies for their support for his country.

Around 18,000 people held hands, forming a chain for peace between the western German cities of Osnabrueck and Muenster.

Protesters also took to the streets in Warsaw, Bern and Tbilisi.

Ksenia Miletska, a volunteer at a charity who was at a demonstration at Trafalgar Square in London, voiced surprise at the level of support for Ukraine in Britain.

Financial accountant Oksana Podlesnayka urged more decisive support for Ukraine.

"There's a lot of words, but not enough action. We need fast action, we need fast delivery, because people are dying every day."

In Rome, hundreds of people gathered for a prayer for peace in Ukraine at the Basilica of St John Lateran, attended by ambassadors, religious authorities and Ukrainian refugees, some of whom wore scarves or hats in Ukraine's colours.

"With this prayer, I'd like to give help so that this war will be the world's last," said Petro Olar, a Ukrainian writer whose house in his hometown of Irpin was destroyed in the fighting.

The 60-year-old expressed doubt that the Vatican could stop the war. "Only God can help us," he said.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST