John Culatto
LEADERS of Gibraltar along with government staff held a one minute’s silence outside their offices Friday to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia and Governor of Gibraltar David Steel bowed their heads to mark the tens of thousands of war casualties.
The Gibraltar Governor marked the occasion with a tweet on a photo taken from his Convent terrace.
“Today Gibraltar, alongside the UK, held a one minute silence in tribute to and in support of the people of Ukraine,” he tweeted.
“The 24th February marks one year since the full scale invasion of Ukraine.”
The United Nations officials said Tuesday that they could confirm over 8,000 civilians have died in the Eastern European conflict.
Thousands more soldiers have died on both sides.
It is not entirely clear how many exactly, with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities putting out very different reports.
But United States Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said that about 100,000 soldiers died on each side of the conflict.
He also suggested 40,000 civilians had been killed by the vicious fighting.
Exactly a year ago, Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was ‘nothing short of appalling’.
He has since acted to secure Gibraltar from any possible Russian cyber attack, especially after US hackings.
Gibraltar has also enforced US and EU sanctions on Russia.
Last year, authorities impounded and then auctioned off a superyacht owned by a Russian billionnaire.
A Ukrainian refugee called Julia Vaskovych marked the day by returning to her home country after a year in government-supplied accommodation.
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