Protesters have gathered in Piccadilly Gardens for the third weekend in a row to show their support for the people of Ukraine.
Around 100 people came together on Saturday afternoon, March 12, to show their support for the war-torn nation - 17 days after Russian forces invaded. With dozens of flags, signs, and people wearing traditional flower crowns, Saturday's gathering was very similar to the ones before it.
Bohdan Ratycz, the director of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, was in the crowd - where talk quickly turned to the highly debated "no-fly zone" several groups have asked for over Ukraine.
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"Please stop saving us," Mr Ratycz asked of Russia. "We are a peace-loving nation but we know how to fight. We need the West to put pressure on the governments to close the skies over Ukraine, it's only when we close the skies our army can prevail.
"By any means possible put pressure on your governments because our voices are being stifled by bomb shells, artillery, and military bullets. We might be on the other end of Europe but you're only a few minutes away from a cruise missile.
"Putin says he's de-nazifying us. We're the only nation with a Jewish president and Prime Minister so just think a minute, who's the Nazi here?"
Today's gathering was smaller than those that came before it, with hundreds of people turning out at the peak of the earlier protests. Mr Ratycz addressed the slimming numbers later in the event, adding: "It seems we're getting bored of it, people thinking, 'it doesn't affect me much'. It affects all of us. If you think WW3 hasn't started yet think again."
Bob Sopel, chair of the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, spoke to the Manchester Evening News about the humanitarian work he was doing to help people on the ground in Ukraine, including those who had been signed up to fight without any proper equipment.
He said: "You can see how much conscription has gone on where they've put a rifle in their hands, stick a badge on them, but they've not got any uniforms, not got boots. So we're getting the lists of the various brigades and sorting tourniquets, blankets, sleeping bags, medicines, you name it.
"There's been some fantastic responses from it all and we're identifying the brigades, and it's something we've been doing anyway, this war's been going on 8 years, so we've already got quite a few of the brigades and many more now are coming to us. You can see the desperation, you can see how the people are suffering, this is an unbelievable crisis."
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