An estimated 600,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 have been wounded.
Mahi for Ukraine founder Kate Turska told a crowd of between 100-150 people in Auckland’s Silo Park yesterday afternoon “As we gather here in New Zealand, far from the front lines, I ask you to reflect on the deep connection between our two nations”.
Mahi for Ukraine founder Kate Turska spoke in front of 100-150 Kiwi Ukrainians at Auckland's Silo Park.
“Ukraine fights on the battlefield, but it also fights in the hearts and minds of free people worldwide - including here in the Pacific,” she said.
“We honour the sacrifices made and the lives forever changed. We remember the soldiers standing firm, the civilians enduring displacement and destruction, and the countless lives lost to Russia’s barbaric aggression.”
Auckland-based Ukrainian Edward Patkevych, who recently filled up a seventh container of medical supplies, told the Herald that people from around New Zealand turned up to help.
“People arrived from Christchurch, Tauranga, Whangārei, from other cities just to help us,” he said.
He estimated in Ukraine, there were three times as many injured soldiers than medical equipment to use.
Members of Aotearoa’s Ukrainian community have rallied in cities across the country to mark the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion that has displaced more than six million people.
In the latest twist in a whirlwind first month since he took office, US President Donald Trump says he wants compensation for US aid provided to Ukraine by his predecessor Joe Biden.
The 47th president has upended US foreign policy by making diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin over the heads of Ukraine and Europe.
Ukrainian ambassador to Australia and NZ Vasyl Myroshnychenko said NZ’s support of Ukraine was an investment rather than a cost.
Myroshnychenko pitched the idea during his recent meeting with Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
“I wanted to thank them for their support and explain that support for Ukraine is not a charity but an investment into the security of NZ,” he said.
“The issue of sovereignty is important to NZ and for countries around NZ. The protection countries have in the UN Charter went down the drain with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“If there is one country who can use weapons and force to take over one country, then others will say ‘if Russia can do it, why can’t we do it?‘”
