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Ukrainians honour Paris terror attack victims at Kyiv’s French Embassy

Special Report: Ukraine’s leaders lay flowers and light candles in memory of the more than 120 dead

Ukrainians are commemorating the victims of the Paris terror attacks. The deaths of at least 120 people on Friday night have shocked many Kyiv residents, as we found out today.

We’re here outside the French Embassy in Kyiv in the Ukrainian capital. As you can see, there’s hoards of flowers and candles. Ukrainians have been coming here throughout the night and into this morning and earlier the president had these words to say.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian President: “Together with the prime minister, Ukrainian government ministers and with the whole Ukrainian nation and on behalf of the people, I would like to express my sincerely condolences to our French brothers. During these difficult times, I would like to confirm and make sure that Ukraine stands shoulder to shoulder with France in the fight against international terrorism”.

Read also Poroshenko: France and Ukraine are ‘protecting shared European values’ against terror

Meanwhile, the new French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont said she was overwhelmed by the support. This is what she told Ukraine Today.

Isabelle Dumont, French Ambassador To Ukraine: “Well, what I want to say, which is extremely important is to say how much we are touched by the support we feel here, very concrete, with so many flowers that you can see there. People came at 1am, 2am (and) 3am in the morning, they came here with flowers and candles to support us. This is a huge thing to us. And you can believe we will take photographs and take them to Paris so that our authorities can feel the support of the Ukrainian people”.

And this was the support. In the national blue and yellow colours. These banners say ‘Ukrainians support the French’ and ‘Terrorism will not win’.

Watch also Paris Terror Attacks: World lights up red, white and blue in solidarity with France

Anna, Kyiv resident: “Today, when I woke up, I saw this horrible tragedy in the news so I called my friend and we decided to come here. We brought some flowers to show our sympathy to France because this is really a huge tragedy and I can’t imagine how these people feel”.

The Paris terror attacks raise one key question – how can Europe prevent such incidents in the future. Valentin Nalivaichenko is Ukraine’s former Security Service Chief. He said communication and exchange of intelligence information is key.

Valentin Nalivaichenko, former Ukrainian Security Service Chief: “I think this is the time to break boundaries, really break them, for all governments, special services and law enforcement to combine efforts in, first, exchanging and sharing of data, data of any suspect, of any terrorist organization which might be linked to these notorious terrorist acts in Paris”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko compared the attack in the French capital to the Kremlin’s war in eastern Ukraine. “The exactly same tragedy took place in Ukraine – as a result of terrorist attacks, because the war, started by Russia is exactly the same, more than 10 thousand Ukrainians died.”

Efforts to pull together intelligence gathering is a long-term project for all European countries and partners. But for now, these Ukrainians, young and old, are remembering those who died in Paris – a city far away but an attack, that feels close to home.

This is Tom Bell for Ukraine Today in Kyiv.

Source:
(UNIAN Photo)