1000 days of War in Ukraine tio be marked in Bolton

The Bolton branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain is organising the gathering on November 16. 

Branch chair, Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn, said: "It has been about 1000 days since the extension of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the actual invasion started in 2014 when they took over Donbas and the Crimea. 

"The so-called special operation was only supposed to last three days. Now it has metamorphosed into 1000 days and it shows the resilience of the Ukrainian people. 

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The memorial in February (Image: NQ)

"We decided we are going to concentrate on the fact that Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from their parents and to Russia to be indoctrinated into the Russian way of life and culture. 

"This, by any stretch of the imagination, is a war crime, so the theme is going to be 'Where are our children'." 

He added: "We are going to make it visually striking. We want peace, we never started this war, we didn't want this war, it is only because of one lunatic in Moscow that this has come about." 

The demonstration will take place on the steps of the town hall from noon to 1pm - there will be a display of children's shoes to represent the children who are missing from Ukraine. 

Yaroslaw added: "We will have children from our Ukrainian school, it is really important considering the message we are trying to promote. 

"The Ukrainian children in the occupied lands of Donbas are attending online Ukrainian lessons in the evening to catch up on the lessons they miss, as when they go to school now, the curriculum is about Russia and Russians."