The Berlin police cordoned off a large area of ​​the street in front of the Soviet memorial near the Brandenburg Gate on Sunday.

On May 8th, the day of the capitulation of the German Wehrmacht 77 years ago and thus the liberation from National Socialism, the Berlin Senate should guarantee a dignified commemoration like in 14 other places in the capital.

In times of war, clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian demonstrators should be prevented when remembering Russian and Ukrainian soldiers who died in the World War.

Therefore, the Senate had banned the carrying of any flags for these places from Sunday to Monday, as well as the wearing of military uniforms and symbols.

The same was not true for diplomats and veterans of the World War.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk had sharply criticized the ban and asked the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) to withdraw the "scandalous decision" because it was "a slap in the face of the Ukrainian people".

Giffey and the Senate sought understanding for the decision because of such protests.

They pointed out that this is not a general ban on carrying Ukrainian flags in the city.

According to Giffey, he informed Melnyk about this on Saturday morning.

Instead of flags, people wear blue and yellow clothes

At around 12 noon on Sunday, the Ukrainian embassy held an event.

Ambassador Melnyk was greeted on his arrival by people shouting “Melnyk out!” from the street, but the chants of young Ukrainian activists soon drowned out these shouts.

The young people behind the police line repeatedly called for support for their homeland in Ukrainian and English and called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "terrorist".

Instead of flags, many of them wore blue and yellow garments.

When a group unfurled a huge Ukraine flag, several police officers immediately packed it up again.

In front of the memorial, Melnyk laid a wreath decorated with blue and yellow flowers.

The event, whose participants had to register at the embassy for security reasons, was attended by members of the Ukrainian diaspora in Berlin and refugees from Ukraine.

In an emotional speech, the Ukrainian singer Tina Karol called on her compatriots to stick together.

A pop icon in her homeland, 37-year-old Karol represented Ukraine in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

Since her escape, Karol has been working from Warsaw to ensure that the Russian-speaking population in Russia and other successor states of the Soviet Union learn the truth about the war.

Other memorial sites in Berlin, such as the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow Park, also remained peaceful on Sunday.

Hundreds of people laid flowers there.

According to a spokesman, 1,600 police officers were on duty, and on Monday, when Russia commemorates the victory over Nazi Germany, there will be 200 more.

Then the police expect a demonstration of 150 members of the nationalist and Putin-loyal rocker club "Night Wolves" who want to take part in a "Red Army memorial procession" from the Brandenburg Gate to the memorial.

The police will take action against "any form of support, approval, glorification or even glorification of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," announced Berlin's police chief Barbara Slowik.

The Z symbol is also prohibited,

Russia celebrates Victory Day on May 9, since the signing of the surrender by the supreme commanders of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst was so late that it was already the 9th by Moscow time.

The historic building where the Wehrmacht surrendered has now changed the lettering at the entrance.

Instead of "German-Russian Museum", one of the walls read "Place of surrender, May 1945", as the museum announced.

A metal plate with the new lettering covers the old designation.