On Saturday, January 13, UAnimals, in collaboration with the Union des Ukrainiens de France, organized a demonstration in Paris against the russian ecocide. The event included a march with poetic readings, involving approximately 150 participants despite the cold weather.
The demonstration aimed to remind France and all of Europe that russia is destroying the most valuable assets: people and the unique biodiversity of Ukrainian nature. The terrorist state is approaching an environmental catastrophe that will be noticed far beyond Ukrainian borders.
Activists marched from Republic Square to Bastille Square, chanting “russia — terrorist” and calling for a halt to the russian ecocide. They carried Ukrainian flags, posters with information about the consequences of destroying the Ukrainian environment, and withered flowers as a symbol of mourning for the destroyed nature of Ukraine.
Jean-Pierre Pasternak, the President of the Union des Ukrainiens de France and a second-generation Ukrainian expatriate, was the main speaker at the event. He called on activists to hold a moment of silence, a tradition at regular events of the Union des Ukrainiens de France to honor the memory of fallen Ukrainian heroes.
Participants expressed sorrow over the death of hero Maxim Kryvtsov, a talented poet and soldier who gave his life for our freedom on January 7 of this year. His poem Where Are My Dreams was read inUkrainian. After the poetic readings on the streets of Paris, participants continued with poems by Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Vasyl Symonenko, and Ivan Franko in French translation.
The UAnimals team expressed gratitude to their partners at the Union des Ukrainiens de France, Ukrainians, and Parisians for their belief in the victory of freedom over terror, and in the flourishing of Ukraine. Let’s continue to defend the planet from ecocide together!
