Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed demonstrators in Frankfurt and several other European cities via live broadcast on Friday evening.
"If Ukraine falls, everyone will fall," he warned in his speech about the effects of the war on the entire continent.
He called on those gathered in Frankfurt, Paris, Bratislava, Vilnius, Prague and Tbilisi, among others, to observe a minute's silence for the men, women and children, soldiers, police officers and civilians who have died since Russia attacked the eastern European country .
The president, dressed in olive green as in his other video messages, said goodbye with a fiercely raised fist and the words “Glory to Ukraine”.
According to the police, a good 2,000 people had gathered in Frankfurt, many of them with Ukrainian flags or clothes in the Ukrainian national colors of yellow and blue.
Demonstrations in many big cities
The youth organizations of various parties are calling for a large-scale demonstration in Hamburg on Saturday because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Under the motto "Peace in Ukraine and Security in Europe", the train is to move from the city center to the Ukrainian Consulate General.
The police expect tens of thousands of participants.
There have already been several large-scale demonstrations in German cities in the past few days.
More than a hundred thousand people protested in Berlin on Sunday, and up to 250,000 people gathered in Cologne on Monday.
Tens of thousands of people joined a demonstration in Munich on Wednesday and protests by the Fridays for Future climate protection movement in several cities on Thursday.