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Demonstration in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate on the anniversary of the beginning of the war
Photo: Carsten Koall / dpa
On the first anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, more than 10,000 people demonstrated against the war in Berlin with flags and banners.
The police expected a further influx early Friday evening.
People streamed from Karl-Marx-Allee via Alexanderplatz and Unter den Linden boulevard towards the Brandenburg Gate, which was illuminated blue and yellow in the evening.
Many also came directly to the site of the final rally by subway and S-Bahn.
In front of the Russian embassy near the Brandenburg Gate, people chanted: "Russia is a terrorist state".
Many participants waved Ukrainian flags.
They kept shouting “Free Ukraine” and “Stop the war”.
A total of 12,500 people were registered for the large-scale demonstration.
According to the police, around 800 police officers were on duty.
In the course of this, significant traffic disruptions and closures were to be expected in the evening.
In the afternoon, the Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeiev inspected a destroyed tank set up in front of the Russian embassy and thanked Germany for the arms deliveries.
The Russian tank wreck is a reminder that shows what it takes to end the war.
"Ukraine is responsible for ensuring that such tanks never roll in Europe again," Makeiev said.
"We will do everything to ensure that the Russian tanks are pushed back to Russia."
Ukraine is very grateful for the German weapons for "our boys and girls on the front line," Makeiev said.
"Wars cannot be won without weapons and the Ukraine would have been overrun and many thousands of civilians would have been murdered." He emphasized: "We will win this war with great German help."
About the opponents of further arms deliveries, who want to demonstrate in Berlin on Saturday, Makeiev said: "You have to say clearly who the aggressor is and who is defending himself.
Peace must be fought for.« He was also in favor of peace demonstrations, but they should take place in front of the Russian embassy.
The demonstrators were then supposed to shout at the embassy and Russian President Vladimir Putin: "Stop this war."
Cannon of wrecked Russian tank points to Russian embassy
Makeiev took part in an event held by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace a year ago to mark the beginning of the war.
The wrecked T-72 tank arrived in the capital early in the morning.
It is to serve as a memorial against the war for a few days in front of the embassy on Unter den Linden boulevard.
The wreck was aligned across the central reservation of the main street, the cannon pointed at the message.
The initiators of the action said that on March 31, during the Russian army attack on Kiev, the tank hit a mine and was destroyed by the explosion.
Soldiers probably died in it.
They belonged to a tank unit stationed far in eastern Russia.
The Military History Museum of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense lent the tank and also supported its transport.
The plan to erect the destroyed tank as a memorial in Berlin has a long history.
After the Mitte district of Berlin initially refused approval, the initiators from the Museum Berlin Story Bunker pushed through their project in court.
The tank was actually supposed to be there longer, but that ultimately failed due to the district's specifications.
According to the initiators, the tank will initially be exhibited in the Netherlands from next week.
jso/dpa