A Napier call for global help for stricken Ukraine

A symbolic commemoration of the fallen civilians in Ukraine and a call for global help, in a small Saturday afternoon rally near the Veronica Sun Bay in Napier. Photo / Doug Laing

A small group of the Ukraine and Russian community in Hawke's Bay have taken a fall for the civilian victims of Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

In a historic moment in front of the Veronica Sun Bay in Napier on Saturday, the group fell to the concrete and lay prone, representing the dead found on the streets of Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel and Borodyanka after the Russian attacks and post-raid retreats in the northern cities and towns of Ukraine.

Group spokesman Rolan Lopatinsky said it was "horrible", and the community in New Zealand felt "helpless" as they feared more atrocities would be found in other areas.

They have called for more help from world leaders to repel the invasion, and Lopatinsky said: "It seems like the West is starting to help. If they don't stop him [Russian President Vladimir Putin] he will not stop there."

"Men, women and children have been murdered, women have been raped," he said, saying the people of Russia remain shrouded in propaganda under the Putin regime and believe the invasion is just, partly because, unlike Nazi war crimes in World War II, war crimes involving Russian forces had for over a century gone unchallenged.

Those responsible had in many cases gone on to live powerful lives of wealth rather than be punished, he said.

With at least 1600 civilians killed and more than 2200 injured, according to reports late last week, the Ukraine community in Hawke's Bay and throughout New Zealand is now looking further at how it can support Ukrainians "back home".

The Veronica Sun Bay, off Napier's Marine Parade, stood as one symbol of help in a time of crisis, commemorating the role of World War I1 Royal Navy sloop HMS Veronica, which had served the New Zealand division of the navy since 1920 and had just berthed in Napier when Hawke's Bay was struck by an earthquake on February 3, 1931.

Sailors assisted with law and order, fought fires that broke out in the CBD, took patients to the temporary hospital and recovered bodies, and within barely 72 hours were helping demolish dangerous buildings.

The Veronica also homed refugees on their first night without their own homes, and crew commandeered trucks to look for food supplies, cooked more than 2000 meals as the rescue and recovery unfolded, and established a food store at the Hastings Street School, as what was to have been a short stop on a tour from the naval base in Auckland stretched into a seven-day operational task during which crew each donated a day's pay to the earthquake relief fund.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine plight was also marked at a Choral Evensong with Prayer for Ukraine Service at Waiapu Cathedral in Napier on Sunday.