A heartfelt vigil was held at Winter Gardens in Sheffield City centre yesterday evening to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The organisers of the event, the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB), invited numerous guest speakers and the AUGB Saturday school choir to bring together Sheffield’s Ukrainian residents and supporters.

Sheffield City council flew the Ukrainian flag above the Sheffield Town Hall as a showing of togetherness with Ukraine.

Labour City council leader, Tom Hunt attended the vigil. Hunt said: We are showing our solidarity today by flying the Ukrainian flag above the town hall.

We are today showing our solidarity with a country that is at war with an aggressor, with a country that is standing up for democracy, and a country that is standing up for the freedoms and values that we, in this country, have fought for. 

We are a city of many faiths, many communities, many backgrounds but we are one Sheffield, and this is their (Ukrainians’) city.

It sickens me that politicians in this country have expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin and taken dirty Russian money.

We will always stand with Ukraine.’’

Sofiia Fesiak, 19, and a Ukrainian student at the University of Sheffield thanked the council and the people of Sheffield for their continued support: ‘’The city’s support is vital for Ukrainian students who long to go home, and we greatly appreciate how welcoming people in Sheffield and the UK have been to Ukrainians.’’

AUGB organiser, Tanya Klymenko, expressed her sadness that this had to be the fourth invasion anniversary event she has had to organise.

Ms Klymenko remarked that she never thought the AUGB’s Ukrainian Saturday school would be enrolling its first student that has been born and raised in Sheffield after the child’s mother fled Ukraine four years ago.