A ‘peace vigil’ attended by hundreds has been held in York Minster to mark two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prayers and readings led by York Minster’s Canon Maggie McLean were part of yesterday’s event (February 24).
Traditional songs were performed by the York Ukraine Together choir and singer Yulia Kirienko, who performed as she did at last year's vigil at the Minster.
Among those attending were refugees from the conflict who have settled in the city.
Maryna Rudeshko was one of many who attended and wore traditional Ukrainian clothing.
She arrived in the UK in April 2022 after evacuating from Broveri, which is to the east of Kiev.
She said she contacts her 28-year-old son and his girlfriend every day, both of whom are in the Ukrainian army.
The event was organised again by York City of Sanctuary, a charity which offers welcome, support and education to people seeking sanctuary.
Svitlana Kucher from the charity said: “We are here to pray for peace in the whole of the world because there is no foreign war."
Rebecca Russell, York-Ukraine support team project lead for the charity said afterwards: “It was incredibly moving, just seeing the resilience of the people who have been here two years now.
“We really thought that we would be maybe a short war, maybe a year, and it’s just quite shocking to find that we’re still in the situation two years on.
“I have to say that leaders in the city have always been supportive.
“It’s very important to the Ukrainians actually because they’ve seen then that they are being represented at a city level and a political level.
“And Rachael Maskell being here as well was absolutely wonderful.
“As usual everyone coming together in York which I keep on going on and on and on about but actually it really is true.
“It’s a very good city for doing that.
“This was all of them pulling together for this and it was beautiful to see the choir, to see Yulia lead in a different way this year.”
Rebecca also paid tribute to the University of York and two of its music department students Mari MacGregor and Alexa MacLaren, who learnt the piece of music they played at the service.
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