From London to Berlin to Tokyo to Vilnius, hundreds of thousands of protesters have gathered in cities across the world to demand an end to the war Russia's Vladimir Putin has waged on Ukraine. Thousands gathered in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Sunday morning for an anti-war rally amid international rage at the invasion of Ukraine even as Russia's troops pressed towards the capital, Kyiv. Police said large crowds have filled the area originally planned for the demonstration, around the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, and that they were allocating additional space to accommodate the protesters.
Sunday's protest was peaceful, including many families with children. People waved yellow and blue Ukrainian flags to show their support. Some carried placards with slogans such as 'Hands off Ukraine' and 'Putin, go to therapy and leave Ukraine and the world in peace.'
More gathered in Madrid holding flags and banners that accused Putin of being akin to Hitler and of carrying out a genocide while demonstrators in the South Korean capital Seoul staged a protest outside the Russian embassy.
Ukrainians living in northern Iraq held an anti-war rally on the doorstep of the United Nation's office in Erbil and women gathered in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius holding placards that branded the Russian president 'Europe's biggest aggressor'.
Meanwhile Pope Francis denounced the 'diabolical and perverse logic' of launching a war in Ukraine and called for humanitarian corridors to welcome Ukrainian refugees fleeing the 'tragic' invasion of their homeland in his strongest public comments yet on Sunday.
Francis has refrained from calling out Russia by name as he seeks to mend ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, and he again omitted any reference to Moscow on Sunday. But he said: 'Those who make war forget humanity,' adding that warfare 'relies on the diabolical and perverse logic of weapons, which is the farthest thing from God's will.'
Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Berlin for an anti-war protest on Sunday after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will commit 100 billion euros (£84billion) to a special fund for its armed forces, raising its defense spending above two per cent of its GDP.
Scholz told a special session of the Bundestag in Berlin on Sunday that it was clear 'we need to invest significantly more in the security of our country, in order to protect our freedom and our democracy.'
Germany had come under criticism for not investing adequately in its defense budget and not doing enough to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday evening, the German government announced it would be sending weapons and other supplies directly to Ukraine to help troops against invading Russia forces.
Meanwhile protesters gathered in Vilnius after the Lithuanian government announced it would close their airspace to Russian planes, joining a growing list of European countries imposing sanctions as the West ramps up pressure on Putin for ordering an invasion of Ukraine.
Several other European countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Austria, Italy and Luxembourg have announced similar closures.
Russia announced it is closing its airspace to planes from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia, a move that comes as Moscow's ties with the West plunge to new lows over its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, announced early Sunday that the measure was taken in retaliation for the four nations closing their airspace for Russian planes.
On Saturday, the agency also reported closing the Russian airspace for planes from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic in response to them doing the same.
Protesters gathered in Erbil, northern Iraq, on Sunday on the doorstep of the United Nation's office in anger over Putin's invasion of Russia, which has so far killed at least 64 civilians and injured nearly 200 more - though it believed the 'real figures are considerably higher' because many reports of casualties remain to be confirmed.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs relayed the count late Saturday from the UN human rights office, which has strict methodologies and verification procedures about the toll from conflict.
OCHA also said damage to civilian infrastructure has deprived hundreds of thousands of people of access to electricity or water, and produced a map of 'humanitarian situations' in Ukraine - mostly in northern, eastern and southern Ukraine.
Meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross said it is aware of requests by Ukraine's UN ambassador and others to repatriate the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in action in Ukraine but has no numbers.
Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya tweeted Saturday that Ukraine has appealed to the ICRC 'to facilitate repatriation of thousands of bodies of Russian soldiers' killed during its invasion of Ukraine. An accompanying chart claimed 3,500 Russian troops have been killed.
Kyslytsya tweeted that parents in Russia should have a chance 'to bury them with dignity.' 'Don't let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin hide scale of tragedy,' he urged.
Meanwhile the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the latest count of Ukrainians arriving in neighboring countries stands at 368,000 and is continuing to rise.
The update from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Sunday more than doubles its estimate a day ago, when it said at least 150,000 have fled Ukraine into Poland and other countries including Hungary and Romania.
Spokesman Chris Meizer said on Twitter that the line of cars at the Poland-Ukraine crossing stood at 8.7mile long 14km), and those fleeing - mostly women and children - had to endure long waits in freezing temperatures overnight.
Poland's government said Saturday that more than 100,000 Ukrainians had crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in the past 48 hours alone.Hundreds of Japanese lined the streets in Tokyo's Shibuya district on Sunday in an anti-war demonstration following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on Thursday.
It comes after the Japanese government said it will join the United States and other Western countries in blocking certain Russian banks' access to the SWIFT international payment system over the invasion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday.
Tokyo will put sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and extend $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Kyiv, Kishida told reporters.
'This Russian invasion of Ukraine is a unilateral attempt to change the status quo and shakes the international order to its core,' Kishida said. 'We must remain united and take action resolutely.'
Kishida's decision came after the US and its allies took a similar step on Saturday, a move seen to deal a blow to Russian trade and make it harder for Russian companies to do business. US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, was quick to welcome Japan's sanction measure.
'The United States looks forward to coordinating closely with Japan in the coming days to implement these measures and to take further steps together with the G7 and likeminded partners to impose costs on President Putin for his reckless decision to wage war in Ukraine,' he said in a written statement.
Meanwhile anti-war demonstrators gathered in the South Korean capital Seoul for the second day.
Thousands hit the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, to rally alongside Ukrainians against Putin's destructive campaign, including many of Russian descent.
Ukrainian-born Alina Gozin'a, who identifies as Russian, said she was praying for all the Ukrainians living in Russia and for the millions of Russians living in Ukraine.
The Sydney artist said when she was born in the USSR, both nations were considered all one people and she could not believe a 'horrific, catastrophic' war had broken out between them.
Meanwhile, one woman broke down as she spoke outside the Russian Club on Saturday about how people were 'against' Russia because 'nobody' understands the complexities of the situation.
'I think most [Russian] people are supporting what Putin is doing because we've been waiting eight years to sort out the problems... I hope he knows what he's doing,' she said.
Many Russians from various parts of the community were reluctant to speak about the situation, with some believing there was a crusade against their motherland.
The majority said they needed to discuss the matter with friends and family before 'taking a side' or commenting.
While Russians and Ukrainians joined forces at protests across Australia, heated confrontations erupted between members from the two nations outside the Kremlin's Sydney consulate on Saturday.
Russian loyalists who now live in Australia gathered outside the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Woollahra to show their support for Putin's regime.
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