Ukraine's national anthem sounds in main square of capital

By Jeyhun Aliyev

KYIV, Ukraine (AA) - As the Russia-Ukraine war is ongoing on its 11th day, the Ukrainian national anthem was played in the main square of the capital Kyiv on Sunday.

Usually used for the air raid sirens, the speakers across Maidan Nezalezhnosti, an iconic Independence Square, played for the first time the Ukrainian national anthem to keep up the patriotic spirit of the nation.

It has recently been often that residents and state officials sing the national anthem.

On Thursday, Ukrainian MP Sasha Ustinova posted on Twitter a video showing nearly 300 members of the Ukrainian parliament singing the national anthem as they gathered in Verkhovna Rada amid Russian bombardment and shelling of the city.

"Ukrainian MPs singing the national anthem of Ukraine. Despite Russian bombs attacking Kyiv, they had a session in the parliament today to vote for the essential laws," she said.

The national anthem has now become a kind of a song of defiance in protest of the Russian war.

- Positions strengthened

Meanwhile, people continued the safety preparations and checkpoint fortification activities across the city.

A number of civilians and volunteers were seen near the main square preparing lots of sandbags used at the checkpoints and barricades as the reports of the Russian forces moving closer to the capital kept coming every other day.

Also, soldiers across the city are patrolling the makeshift checkpoints on the streets of Kyiv.

Piles of sand, sandbag barricades used for blocking roads, wooden crates, and bricks piled high along with the Czech hedgehog tank barriers and concrete columns were placed on the main streets of Kyiv, a city of 3 million people, as part of the measures.

The latest clashes on Sunday morning took place between the Russian and Ukrainian forces in Irpin, a strategically important city located on the Irpin river about 30 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Kyiv.

Russia's war on Ukraine has been met by outrage from the international community with the EU, UK, and US, among others, implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

At least 364 civilians have been killed and 759 others injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war in the Eastern European country on Feb. 24, according to UN figures, with the real toll feared to be higher.

More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.