A RALLY was held in Belfast city centre yesterday to mark eight months since the invasion of Ukraine.
The crowd gathered outside city hall carrying flags, banners and placards to call for an end to the conflict.
Among the messages carried by the protesters, many of whom were young children, were 'Save Ukrainian kids', 'Putin don't kill off Ukraine' and 'stop genocide in Ukraine'.
The rally marks eight months since Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled and cities have been reduced to rubble by Russia’s bombardment.
Moscow calls its campaign a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky said Russia had "embarked on a path of evil".
The rally in Belfast also come just days after new figures revealed that fewer than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees forced from their homes by the war are legally living in Northern Ireland.
Latest figures published by the UK government reveal 652 have arrived and are living in the north under the home sponsorship scheme.
A further small number are in the north under a separate family sponsorship scheme, while several hundred landed in Dublin and have crossed the border, according to estimates by one support group.
