'Fear, love, hope': Ukrainians reflect on Russian invasion as world marks anniversary

Olha Kosianchuk, 64, cries during a memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russia Ukraine war, in Bucha, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Olha’s husband was killed during the occupation of Bucha by Russian troops during the first weeks of the war (Emilio Morenatti/AP/PA)

The anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a sombre day for many of the country’s 43 million people.

Ukrainians described the anniversary as both terrible and inspiring for them because Ukraine has defied expectations that it might quickly fall to Moscow’s invasion forces.

“I can sum up the last year in three words: Fear, love, hope,” said Oleksandr Hranyk, a school director in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

A woman cries during a memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russia Ukraine war, in a cemetery in Bucha (Emilio Morenatti/AP/PA)

“Victory is ours, young people will live,” said Nelia Zamostian, 62, who was attending a church memorial service in Bucha, the town outside Kyiv that became an early symbol of Russian atrocities.

And Daria Horda, 25, who has not seen her family in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka since Moscow’s troops rolled across Ukraine’s borders on February 24, 2022, said: “For me, it’s a terrible pain and a day where I don’t want to go back in my thoughts, rewatch photos or videos. A very tough day.”

Maria Kurbet, 77, weeps at the grave of her son, a serviceman killed in Bakhmut, during a memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the war, in a cemetery in Bucha (Emilio Morenatti/AP/PA)

Lining up in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to buy anniversary commemorative postage stamps, Tetiana Klimkova said that a year into the invasion, she’s been unable to shake “the feeling that your heart is constantly falling, it is falling and hurting”.

“This day has become a symbol for me that we have survived for a whole year and will continue to live,” she said. “On this day, our children and grandchildren will remember how strong Ukrainians are mentally, physically, and spiritually.”

In Berlin, a wrecked Russian tank brought from Ukraine has been put on display outside the Russian Embassy to mark the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.

The T-72 tank was put on display in Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard, in front of the embassy.

The tank was brought to Berlin by a private group, which said that the Ukrainian defence ministry’s military history museum loaned the vehicle and helped it with logistics.

It says the vehicle was hit in the Kyiv region in the early stages of the war.

One of the organisers, Wieland Giebel of the Berlin Story group, said that the whole world recognises that many Germans stand behind Ukraine.

A man dressed as a peace dove stands in front of a wreck of a Russian T-72 tank placed in front of the Russian Embassy to mark the anniversary in Berlin (Markus Schreiber/AP/PA)

In Serbia, police prevented a group of anti-war activists from reaching the Russian embassy to presenting a skull-adorned cake in commemoration of the war’s anniversary.

Activists left the cake soaked in red dye on the pavement near the embassy in central Belgrade. Activists also wanted to hand embassy staff a demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stand trial for genocide.

A traditional Slavic ally, Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia despite the invasion. While formally seeking European Union entry, Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions designed to punish Moscow for the aggression.

People around the world marked the anniversary with candlelit vigils and marches.

A Ukrainian national lights a candle to pay tribute to people killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine at the Ukrainian consulate in Bali, Indonesia (Firdia Lisnawati/AP/PA)

Members of Sydney’s Ukraine community hold a candlelight vigil to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP/PA)