Toronto's Ukrainian community holds protest after recent Russian missile strikes

Members of Toronto's Ukrainian community are protesting stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine in recent days that have claimed the lives of civilians.

Russia's biggest air strikes against Ukraine since the start of the war killed at least 19 people on Monday, drove thousands of Ukrainians back into air raid shelters and knocked out electricity in hundreds of towns and villages. Vladimir Putin has described the recent strikes as a response to what he called terrorist attacks by Ukraine, including a blast on Sunday that damaged Russia's bridge to Crimea, which it built after annexing the peninsula it seized in 2014.

The Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress organized the rally outside of the Russian Consulate.

A notice about the rally posted on Facebook reads: "Time to act! Putin and his henchmen launched massive rocket attacks on the cities of Ukraine."

The strikes — denounced in the West for deliberately hitting civilian targets — have been hailed by hawks in Moscow as a turning point that demonstrates Russia's resolve in what it continues to call a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Aurel Braun, professor of international relations and political science at University of Toronto, says rallies like the one in Toronto tonight — just the latest in a string of similar events since the beginning of the conflict — do make a difference.

Similar international pressure, he said, helped lead to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

"External support was meaningful, and even though we don't see at times an immediate effect, there is a long term, cumulative impact that is really, really crucial," Braun told CBC Toronto. 

He said "rallies that send a message to Russia that the world condemns their action, that conveys to Ukrainian people that they have support in the West, that we understand the pain, that they are suffering and we are willing to help," all have a crucial impact.

'Remarkable resiliency' from Ukraine

Braun says Ukraine has surprised the entire world with "the remarkable resiliency [and] the extraordinary determination with which they're fighting back."

He also noted "the remarkable skill" that has been exhibited by the country's armed forces, and "the resiliency of the population itself." 

"Morale is very crucial in any conflict. It is not just numbers, it is not a simple quantitative assessment, and this is where Ukraine, much smaller than Russia, does have a clear advantage because there isn't that kind of morale in Russia," Braun said, noting Ukrainians feel like they're defending their neighbourhoods and families.