Russian ambassador walks over bodies of Ukrainians representing current war victims near monument to WWII Soviet soldiers

In Warsaw, Poland, a Russian ambassador, who came to lay flowers in front of the monument to Soviet soldiers, stepped over Ukrainian protesters who lay on the ground representing victims of the current Russian aggression.

The demonstration, organized by the social initiative “Euromaidan-Warsaw,” was a silent protest against Russia’s use of 9 May as a propaganda platform, according to a Euromaidan-Warszawa press release received by Euromaidan Press.

Ukrainian protesters wrapped in bloodied sheets lay on the ground as Russian Ambassador Sergei Andreyev made his way to a monument at the Soviet soldiers cemetery.

Andreyev walked past the protesters “with tunnel vision” amid heavy police presence and surrounded by supporters and security guards, witnesses reported.

 “It was the gait of a man pretending not to see anything,” Miroslaw Petryga, a 70-year-old Ukrainian engineer who has lived in Poland for decades, told AFP.

The protesters, primarily Ukrainian women whose relatives remain in Ukraine under Russian bombardment or serving in the military, placed bloodstained children’s toys along the ambassador’s path to symbolize child victims of Russia’s war. Activists scattered teddy bears, balls and other items splattered with a blood-like liquid at the cemetery entrance.

“My uncle is fighting on the frontline and risking his life every day to hold back the Russian army. He is over there, and I am here. I can’t just sit and do nothing, so I am fighting Russia here in Poland,” said Emma Zahynaiko, a Euromaidan-Warsaw volunteer who participated in the protest.

Polish activist Jacek Wiśniewski emphasized that the action was “not a protest against the past” but against “a terrorist state still having its diplomats in democratic Europe and allowing itself to speak on behalf of memory, neglecting life in the present.”

Russian counter-protesters, wearing St. George ribbons (a symbol of Soviet military victories), stepped on the lying people and shouted “Glory to Russia!” while waving a Russian flag. Minor scuffles and verbal confrontations occurred between the groups.

Some individuals came separately to lay flowers, including Natalia, a 67-year-old Russian citizen and long-term Polish resident who brought a photo of her father who had fought in World War II.

The event also featured the first Polish public display of a sculpture by Lithuanian artist Martynas Gaubas titled Khuilo, a more than two-meter-long phallus wearing a military helmet, representing the artist’s view of Vladimir Putin as “a symbol of aggression, humiliation, fear and alienation from reality.”

During the demonstration, organizations Akcja Demokracja [eng: Action Democracy] and the Komitet Obrony Demokracji (KOD) [eng: Committee for the Defense of Democracy] presented a petition demanding the closure of the Russian Federation embassy in Poland and declaring the ambassador persona non grata.

Some protesters wore t-shirts with the slogan “Make Russia small again” while collecting signatures for the petition to expel the Russian ambassador.

Russian Victory Day parade 2025

The experts from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center analyzed Russia’s 2025 Victory Day parade as a clear demonstration that Russia under Vladimir Putin remains a formidable global power unwilling to cease its confrontation with the West.

The parade, attended by over two dozen world leaders, signaled the failure of efforts to isolate Putin and reinforced Russia’s narrative linking WWII victory to its current war in Ukraine.

Experts emphasize that Putin is asserting his dominance on the international stage, effectively dictating the terms for ending the war-insisting peace can only come on Russia’s conditions. 

During the Victory Day speech 2025, Putin explicitly referenced the Ukrainian cities of Sevastopol (in Crimea) and Odesa as part of Russia’s “heroic legacy,” signaling intensified Kremlin claims over these territories and hinting that Odesa could be a future target for annexation, similar to Crimea.