‘All I feel is pain’: Ukrainians gather to protest in Dublin to support women affected by the war

A group of Ukrainians gathered for The Silenced Widows protest in Dublin on Saturday. The rally was part of a global action honouring Ukrainian widows and fallen soldiers.

Eva Markelova, a 23-year-woman from Moscow in Russia who is now a volunteer in Ukrainian Action, said she felt “pain” about war in Ukraine.

“All I feel is a pain for Ukraine. I feel boundless pain as it is my state, which invades an innocent country and kills innocent people of Ukraine,” Ms Markelova said.

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Ms Markelova said the protest was organised by Action with Ukraine, which is a voluntary organisation that honours widows and women affected by the war, and feminist activists group in the United States that is called Women for Ukraine.

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She said similar protests also took place in the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic and South Korea on Saturday.

About 100 Ukrainian soldiers are killed in action every day, and up to 300 wounded, US Gen Mark Milley said in Brussels last June.

Valentyna Taran (74) came to Ireland shortly after the war started last February.

“All of it very emotional for me. I couldn’t even imagine that I will leave my country because of war,” she said.

After the main performance, Ms Taran read her five poems, four in the Ukrainian language and one in Russia, to the group.

“I used to be a mechanical engineer, but now I use the words to express my pain,” she said.

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Artem Nedostup (32), who is also volunteering for Ukrainian Action in Ireland, said the organisation and Ukrainians were deeply grateful for everything that Ireland had done to help.

“One particular thing we wish for is an Irish Government’s initiative to make the cutbacks at the Russian embassy in Dublin. The number of Russian diplomats in Dublin and Irish diplomats in Moscow are very disproportionate to each other,” Mr Nedostup said.

Mr Nedostup said the war was “a battle of civilisations”.

“There are millions of Irish people everywhere, especially in the United States of America,” he said.

“We want them to talk about us, to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia ... the values of freedom, democracy and equality fight against violence, murders, repressions and lies.”