OZON Volunteers Conducted a Monitoring of the “Money for the Armed Forces” Assembly 

​​On Thursday, December 12, a peaceful assembly was held near the Kyiv City Council (KCC) organized by the “Money for the Armed Forces” initiative. The assembly participants demanded that an additional 2 billion hryvnias be allocated for the “Defender of Kyiv” program and that money be prioritized for the Armed Forces over other expenses.

In parallel, a rally was also held on the steps of the KCC against the vote for the DPT (Detailed Plan of the Territory), which determines the reconstruction of the building at Poltavska, 12; and later – against the development of the Literary Square. That is, in fact, 3 peaceful assemblies were held near the KCC in the morning on this day. Representatives of the “Ecopark Osokorky” and “Literary Square” initiatives also had a floor at the end of the “Money for the Armed Forces” assembly.

Main events

Monitoring by OZON volunteers lasted from 9:25 to 11:05.

The “Money for the Armed Forces” assembly began at 9:28 and ended at 10:54. During this time, the number of participants varied, and at the peak of the action, 159 participants were recorded with an error of 10 people.

The organizers of the action spoke about their demands to the KCC, the peculiarities of budget formation and residual funds, and the importance of allocating funding for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and social payments to the military.

The participants stood on the steps of the KCC building, came with posters, shouted slogans, and sang the Ukrainian anthem.

During the action, a motorcade called “On the Shield” drove along Khreshchatyk Street. The participants approached the road and kneeled to honor the fallen hero.

During the action, the participants chanted the following slogans:

• Money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine!
• Add 2 billion!
• Allocate, appropriate, report!
• Our taxes are military expenses!
• Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!
• Ukraine above all!
• Three times glory to the Heroes of Ukraine! Glory! Glory! Glory!
• Whoever does not jump is a Muscovite!

The posters of the participants included the following inscriptions:

• “Let’s change, or we will die”
• “Klitschko, look into tomorrow and find 2 billion for the Armed Forces”
• “Kyiv City Administration, give the defenders 2 billion for drones under the Christmas tree”
• “Money from the bedside table for the Armed Forces”
• “Someone gives the last, and someone steals the last”
• “I don’t want to escape from the occupation again”
• “I’ll bite for money for the Ukrainian Defence Forces” (poster of a dog)
• “I don’t care about a new park when my father is fighting”
• “Why do I need parks if the enemy will walk through them?”
• “Will you wake up when the enemy’s offense direction will be “Kyiv”?”

Police work

The peaceful assembly was protected by:

• 5 dialogue police officers;
• 7 officers of the Main Directorate of the National Police without badges.
• 11 officers of the Special Purpose Police, 9 of them without badges;
• 2 officers of the municipal guard.
• Volunteers also recorded 4 police officers without any identification marks.

2 patrol police cars, 2 service cars, 3 police buses (probably with a reserve of the Special Purpose Police and the Main Directorate), 1 dialogue police bus and 1 bus (probably with a reserve), a municipal guard car were recorded in the nearby area.

In parallel, two more assemblies were taking place near the KCC: “Against the vote for the DPT” and “Against the construction of Literary Square”.

The assembly “Against the vote for the DPT” began at 9:37 and ended at 10:15. The participants stood with posters on the steps of the Kyiv City Council to the right of the “Money for the Armed Forces” assembly. The number of participants in the action is 5 people.

The action “Against the construction of the Literary Square” began at 10:30 and ended at 10:54. The participants of the action stood with a poster on the steps of the KCC to the right of the “Money for the Armed Forces” participants, and together with them sang the anthem of Ukraine and shouted slogans. The number of participants in the action is 4 people.

At the end of the action, the organizers of the “Money for the Armed Forces” action gave the floor to representatives of the “Literary Square” and “Ecopark Osokorky” initiatives, whose representatives were present at the city council meeting. During the speech, the participants started jumping, saying, “Whoever doesn’t jump is a Muscovite!”.

OZON volunteers Karolina Katasonova and Bohdan Kalashnyk-Horobets and the monitoring group’s coordinator, Ivanka Malchevska, carried out the monitoring.