Today, on the darkest and shortest day of the year, Ukraine has asked the whole world to turn off the lights at 8 pm for an hour as a sign of solidarity with its people who have been forced to live without electricity since mid-October. heating and water. The Colosseum in Rome, the Hotel de Ville in Paris, the Warsaw Opera House, the Canadian Museum of History, the Christmas trees of Rockefeller Center in New York, Trafalgar Square in London and Prague. Just a few of the many iconic places around the world that have responded to the appeal of the Light Up Ukraine campaign which aims to raise ten million dollars through United24, the national fundraising platform, to finance the purchase of a thousand generators to power the hospitals this winter after Russian missiles and drones damaged Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“We need your support. Every doctor forced to operate in the dark. Every father and mother who do their best to give their families what they need, even in the dark. Every Ukrainian who has faith in freedom despite darkness,” Zelensky said yesterday when launching the initiative. When the light goes out, continues the Ukrainian president, something out of the ordinary is always thought of. “But when you go four, ten or even full days without light you start to get used to the dark, that’s the worst thing ever,” because light isn’t the only thing they want to take away from you. “This is how we live in Ukraine right now,” and this is how he asks the rest of the world to live for just one hour in support.
The appeal has not only involved iconic and famous places, but also private homes and offices. “Tonight we are responding to the request of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. We are turning off the lights in Berlaymont offices and representations across the European Union in solidarity with the Ukrainian people suffering from Russian blackouts,” the European Commission wrote on Twitter . Videos and photos of headquarters across Europe were posted on social media, while the lights in the buildings were turned off.
In Turin, the Mole Antonelliana and Palazzo Civico were also shut down for an hour from 7 to 8 pm. “As a sign of solidarity with a people who continue to experience the dramatic condition of an unjust invasion war and a source of so much suffering for civilians “, stressed the mayor of the city Stephen Lo Russo.