Rally in DC Saturday to mark 3 year anniversary of Russia-Ukraine war
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WASHINGTON - Ukrainian activists and supporters are planning to gather Saturday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally to mark three years of the Russia-Ukraine war.
What we know:
The event starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Memorial, with speakers expected to begin around 2:00 p.m.
A march will follow the rally at the Lincoln Memorial at 3:30 p.m. The march will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and end at the Russian Ambassador's Residence.
The rally and march are being organized by US Ukrainian Activists, United Help Ukraine, Razom for Ukraine, Ukraine House, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and People of Ukraine Foundation, and in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukrain and the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine, according to the Facebook event.
The backstory:
Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.
But Russia’s aggression against Ukraine didn’t start then. In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin saw signs that Ukraine was pulling away from Russia’s sphere of influence, seeking alliances with western European nations.
Putin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and started an armed aggression in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas that grew into a long-running conflict that left thousands dead.
That conflict simmered until 2022, when Putin ordered what he called military exercises along Ukraine’s borders. He told the world that the roughly 150,000 soldiers that he had amassed would not be used to invade Ukraine. But in the early hours of Feb. 24, Russia launched widespread airstrikes and soldiers began pouring over the border.
Why you should care:
President Donald Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military.
Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "a dictator without elections" and claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom.
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