A group of people flocked to the town centre today to host a peaceful protest against Putin and in solidarity with the thousands of men, women and children who have died in the war torn country.

Bolton Ukrainian Cultural Centre and Ukrainian guests who are residing in Bolton came together today on the Town Hall steps to peacefully protest and to sing songs from their home country.

As well as residents who decided to join in, Cllr Roger Hayes was also amongst the crowd.

Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn, Bolton Branch Chair of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, hosted the event #StandWithUkraine from 12PM until 1PM and there was a positive turn out with many residents also showing their support by donating cash.

The Bolton News: People gather to show their solidarityPeople gather to show their solidarity (Image: Newsquest)

Speaking about the protest, Yaroslaw said: "We are protesting today because of the actions of the mass murderer Putin on Monday and Tuesday when there was indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian cities.

"No city was unaffected by this bombing, from Western Ukraine all the way to Kyiv, no place is safe and I think people need to be aware that this is a war that we have to win otherwise it's the survival of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian nation.

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"We are looking for funds because we need to supply various humantiarian aids which are desperately needed in Ukraine.

"It's not just a question of support for Ukrainians in Ukraine but also a lot of the Ukrainians here in Bolton have got families still in Ukraine and they are worried, one or two of them could hardly speak to me at the start of the week because of the stress and the worry was getting so much to them.

"Moral support would also be great but finances are needed."

Cllr Roger Hayes was also amongst the crowd who wanted to show his support.

The Bolton News: Cllr Hayes was amongst the crowdCllr Hayes was amongst the crowd (Image: Newsquest)

He said: "I think the Ukrainian people are doing a marvellous job on behalf of all democracy to be honest.

"It was a totally unprovoked assault by Russia and I think Russia thought they would probably beat the Ukrainians in about three or four weeks but they have been very wrong.

"There has been a lot of support from the West and the Ukrainians are marvellous people.

"I mean they suffered under Stalin with a whole lot of war where up to about five million of them starved to death and Ukraine has been in trouble with Russia for a really long time and I think they are marvellous."

Throughout the protest the group sang emotional songs and the atmosphere felt solemn and really emotional.

Yaroslaw also presented a speech.

In parts of the speech, Yaroslaw said "Russia is a terrorist state" and all Putin has done is "to make Ukraine stronger and united as a nation."