Demonstrators waved flags of Ukraine, Poland, the European Union and the white-red-and-white flags of Belarus, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Many participants brought vigil lights and placards emblazoned with the English-language slogan: “Russia is a terrorist state,” according to news outlets.
As darkness fell on Warsaw’s Belwederska street, protesters continued to assemble outside the Russian embassy building, chanting “Away with Putin!,” “Terrorist!” and “Down with Fascism,” among other slogans.
They also cheered for Ukraine and its soldiers and demanded that Russia be expelled from the United Nations.
One of the Belarusian women attending the rally clutched a placard that read: “Belarus is not Lukashenka,” the wp.pl website reported.
Meanwhile, besides national and EU flags, demonstrators also unfurled a vast banner in Ukrainian colours and with a white-and-red heart in the middle, according to the PAP news agency.
Police halted traffic in Belwederska street due to the rally, news outlets reported.
Russia’s deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities: 14 dead, 97 injured
On Monday morning, Russia sent dozens of rockets and drones tearing into Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and some 20 other busy cities across the country, including Lviv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, news outlets reported.
It was the heaviest and most widespread barrage for months, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi said on Monday evening that the attacks targeted twelve different regions of the country, as reported by the Ukrainska Pravda website.
“As of now, we have recorded a total of 74 attacks, and sadly we have confirmed the deaths of 14 people; a further 97 people sustained injuries," the official said.
Russia used 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones, including 13 Iranian Shahid-136 ones in its assault, according to Ukraine's ministry of defence, as reported by the digital broadcaster Espreso TV.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces destroyed 56 of these targets: 43 rockets and 13 drones, Espreso TV added.
On Monday evening, the US President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s civilian centres, renewing his call on Russia “to end this unprovoked aggression immediately and remove its troops from Ukraine.”
“We will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom,” Biden added in a statement, also extending his condolences to the loved ones of those killed in Monday’s attacks, politico.com reported.
Monday was day 229 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm)
Source: PAP, wp.pl, pravda.com.ua, apnews.com, politico.com, whitehouse.gov, global.espreso.tv