this gives us pleasure and joy, because our work is useful. ok, so welcome to the wednesday meeting and can everybody be off their laptops for the meeting, thank you. another symbol of ukrainian defiance is here at the kyiv independent, an english language news site set up weeks before the invasion. within days, their online following went from tens of thousands to millions. its editor describes it as the voice of ukraine and the world s window into it. we are of course all very much aware of the sacrifice that it took to get us all here to this independence day and thousands of people who were killed, both civilians and military. i think it s probably the most important independence day that we will see in our lives. on this day last year, president zelensky donned his now unfamiliar dark suit, with his military putting on this show of strength. russia had already started to gather
shifts in terms of positions on the ground in the east and in the south of the country. it doesn t seem we will see any kind of solution in terms of fighting but also in terms of diplomacy at least in the near future. let s go to maria drutska, a political observer who works in the ukrainian defence sector. she joins us from kyiv. thank you for talking to us today. i know you were on independence square yesterday. our you avoiding there today? there have been warnings to ukrainians not to go there. that today? there have been warnings to ukrainians not to go there. ukrainians not to go there. that is correct. i visited ukrainians not to go there. that is correct. i visited independence - correct. ivisited independence square yesterday and i passed by so called russia equipment parade. that is not how they planned to do it. our government does not encourage us to go to the public places, so i am as well staying away
you were studying as an international student in ukraine, one of a number. what happened when the war broke out? the war broke out? thank you for havin: the war broke out? thank you for having me- the war broke out? thank you for having me. when the war broke out? thank you for having me. when the the war broke out? thank you for having me. when the war - the war broke out? thank you for having me. when the war broke i the war broke out? thank you for. having me. when the war broke out, we had relatives to support and we couldn t find any information regarding how we would be able to leave ukraine and most of the information was mainly being given for ukrainian people so we kind of banded together as a community to help each other flee ukraine and we faced so many hurdles trying to leave ukraine, racism and violence now we have all managed to flee and we are all over different parts of europe, it feels as if the support thatis europe, it feels as if the support that is being giv
community that have been forgotten about so that is mainly why i want to raise awareness for people to know that. to raise awareness for people to know that- to raise awareness for people to know that. ~ . ., , ., , know that. ukraine was a diverse community. know that. ukraine was a diverse community. it know that. ukraine was a diverse community, it is know that. ukraine was a diverse community, it is like know that. ukraine was a diverse community, it is like the - know that. ukraine was a diverse community, it is like the uk. i know that. ukraine was a diverse j community, it is like the uk. you had people from all over the world who also well part of the community in ukraine and we have to community it might have to support might we have to support each other and the community. you said that people are in all different countries now, what is the situation? is the situation? some have gone back to their is the situation? some have gone back to their home is the si
anti says police are supporting their family as they try to come to terms with this tragedy. he said he would like to echo the words of the chief constable appealing for the community to keep helping this family, he says we will continue to do all we can to take those involved in gun crime the streets. he says this is not the time for anyone who knows who was responsible to stay silent. now we will return to our top story. ukraine is marking the 31st anniversary of the country s independence from the soviet union today and six months since the russian invasion. i m joined now by oleksiy goncharenko who is the mp for odesa. he is in the capital, kyiv. thank you forjoining us today and before we begin by talking about what s happening in odesa, grain exports and so forth, i can see you are