Cheerful crowd, vyshyvankas and Saakashvili

Today, traditional annual Vyshyvanka Megamarch took place in Odessa. Over 1,000 Odesa residents and guests of the city walked central streets in traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts vyshyvankas, singing Ukrainian anthem and chanting “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Heroes!” to commemorate those who had died in Russian-Ukrainian war.

Cheerful crowd of women and men, children and adults radiated amity that one could hardly resist.

Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia and now advisor to the president of Ukraine, who came to Odesa to participate in Georgia Days, also joined the event wearing vyshyvanka himself.

This year, the Vyshyvanka Megamarch was accompanied by the photo exhibition named the Undeclared War, featuring photos from the frontline in eastern Ukraine. “Do you recognise your uncle?” a father said to his children pointing at a photo of a brave determined soldier wearing unifrom. And there was a number of such families, who found their fathers, sons, brothers and uncles in the photos.

There was also a separate stand with photos of those Ukrainian servicemen and volunteers from Odesa and the Odesa Region that had given their lives to protect Ukraine from Russian invasion. Their number is astonishing.

The Heavenly Hundred was also remembered at the exhibition. People brought flowers to the stand devoted to Maidan heroes, some of them knelt in front of the photos to thank their heroes.

Aleksandra Demskaya, EMPR.