‘They are not soldiers’

Wives of Russians mobilised to fight in Ukraine symbolically laid flowers Saturday at the flame of the unknown soldier right beneath the walls of the Kremlin and demanded the return of their husbands from the front.

Anger has been growing for months among relatives of reservists who President Vladimir Putin mobilised in September 2022, seven months after the initial invasion of Ukraine.

The mobilisation is a sensitive subject for authorities, who have so far refrained from repressing what has become a nascent movement of revolt.

Saturday saw some 15 women brave the winter cold to place red flowers at the site in the heart of the capital.

“We want to draw the authorities’ attention and that of the public to our appeal. We have tried several means. We made a written appeal to lawmakers, officials, administrations — but we were not heard,” Maria, a 47-year-old sales manager, whose husband was mobilised in November 2022, told AFP.

“It’s not fair. They are civilians, they are not soldiers. Our husbands can’t stay there,” she added.

Maria Semyonova, a legal assistant, urged authorities to “negotiate peace” in Ukraine at a protest where police did not intervene.

Usually, protests against the conflict are swiftly and resolutely nipped in the bud with the subject a delicate issue for the Kremlin.

Paulina, the mother of a one-year-old child, said the protest is “the only peaceful action that has not yet been banned by law.

“I feel like we’re annoying them. But no one will remain silent. We shall carry on every day, every Saturday. We’ll lay flowers” to draw attention to the situation, she said.

“At some point, it will be impossible to ignore us,” added Paulina, saying she was determined to get back her husband.

Russian state media have to date largely ignored the women’s protest, with the Kremlin keen to project an image of national unity ahead of presidential elections later this year where Putin expects to secure another term.

According to Putin, 244,000 Russians have been mobilised to fight in Ukraine in a total force 617,000 strong.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Russia’s attack on Ukraine can be defeated, adding that the situation on the battlefield at this time remains relatively stable.

“Even Russia can be brought back within the framework of international law. Its aggression can be defeated,” Zelensky told a conference in Sweden via video link.

The war in Ukraine has shown that Europe must develop joint weapons production to ensure that the continent can “preserve itself” under any global situation that might arise, the Ukrainian president said.

“Two years of this war have proven that Europe needs its own sufficient arsenal for the defence of freedom, its own capabilities to ensure defence,” he said.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa pledged Japan’s continued support for Ukraine as she visited Kyiv yesterday in the midst of the country’s invasion by Russia.

“Japan is determined to continue to support Ukraine so that peace can return to Ukraine,” Kamikawa said through an interpreter at a joint news conference with Ukrainian minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Kamikawa arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit and was forced to hold a news conference in a shelter due an air alert.