(ANSA) - FLORENCE, MARCH 12 - "Tell your politicians to close the skies of Ukraine", "from rockets, from Russian planes, from missiles".
Thus a strong appeal by Volodymyr Zelenskyj, president of Ukraine, to the square of Florence, speaking in a video link with the Eurocities 'Citiesstand with Ukraine' demonstration in Piazza Santa Croce, full of peace and yellow and blue flags of Ukraine.
About 20 thousand people present and 100 cities connected throughout Europe.
"This war is not only against our Ukrainian people, but against our values, against our way of life", "live, do not kill as Russian soldiers do in our land";
"you will have understood that we are different because we live and they kill", "we are for 79 living children, they are for 79 dead children;" I am convinced that you will try to stop the war as every Ukrainian is doing ", help to Ukraine" is necessary, logical and natural for millions of people in the democratic countries. "Russian forces" have surrounded the Ukrainian cities they want to destroy them.
24 hours a day, bombing clinics, churches, squares, which are like yours ".
"Imagine entire cities bombed and destroyed in 2022, in Europe - he added - Mariupol is bombed 24 hours a day, they destroyed a maternity clinic in a children's hospital.
This is hatred for all living. They kill children, destroy hospitals. Why? do not have Ukrainian women bear children ".
The Russians, he continued, "destroy hundreds of houses, kindergartens, schools, residential neighborhoods, churches.
Imagine how we can survive being bombed under the carpet. They bomb squares like yours where you are now. Lapiazza of Karkhiv, the largest, was destroyed. from a Razzorussian ".
"Sanctions are needed so that every Russian soldier understands the price of each shot against civilians".
The demonstration opened with a video of the recently deceased president of the European Parliament David Sassoli talking about Europe and peace, preceded by 17 tolling bells, one for each day of war in Ukraine.
(HANDLE).
