PM, top gov't officials take part in anti-Putin march in Warsaw

Poland's prime minister and Ukraine's ambassador to Poland were among the participants of a march in Warsaw against Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

Also present at the demonstration in front of the Ukrainian embassy were Sejm (lower house of parliament) Speaker Elżbieta Witek, Family and Social Policy Minister Marlena Maląg, the prime minister's chief aide, Michał Dworczyk, and ruling Law and Justice party MPs Joanna Lichocka and Jan Mosiński as well as the Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Andrii Deshchytsia.

The march was held under the slogan 'Mothers cry out: stop shooting at children.' Accompanying Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki were his wife and children.

Elżbieta Witek, the parliamentary speaker, said at the event: "If I could tell Putin something, I would say, Mr Putin, you are not just a criminal, you are a huge coward, because you're not fighting against an army you can't defeat. You're fighting against children and women, pregnant women. Your countrymen are raping Ukrainian women. You will not win this war. You have already lost this war."

She said she was attending the march not only as parliamentary speaker but also as a woman, a Pole, a mother and a grandmother, and to show Ukrainians they were not alone.

She added that women in Warsaw, across Europe and worldwide should fight for Ukrainian women's rights and called on Russian women not to let their sons murder Ukrainian women and children.

She also appealed to women globally to demonstrate and show that Ukraine was not alone.

The Sejm speaker also thanked Poles for the example they had shown in demonstrating solidarity in a situation in which people were suffering, dying and in need of help.