As Russian missile and drone attacks began to rain down on Ukraine on 10 October 2022, the Australian Federation of Ukrainians Organisations called the community to action.
Around Australia, the community responded. Protests were held in all capital cities to express profound horror and condemnation of the attacks on cities and regions across Ukraine, including Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and the Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
The attacks left 19 dead and more than 100 injured. They targeted critical civilian infrastructure – including at least 12 energy facilities – with the aim of damaging Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the coming winter. They were launched when people were going to work and taking children to school.
More than 1100 Ukrainian towns and villages are now without electricity and water, as temperatures begin to drop and a bitter winter looms.
The attacks were a violation of international humanitarian law. They were designed to exact maximum punishment on civilians. They were yet further evidence of the illegal and immoral means by which Russia is conducting its war on Ukraine.
The protests demanded Russia be declared a terrorist organisation; that Russian diplomats be expelled from Australia; that State and Federal Parliaments pass motions condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine as genocide; and that Australia and the international community provide more military aid to Ukraine so it can defend itself.
Video Credit: AFUO and Ukrainian communities of Australia
