Ukraine flags block Russian ambassador’s path on Victory Day

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A large installation representing Russian atrocities in Ukraine blocked the path of Russia’s ambassador to Poland as he sought to lay a wreath at a Warsaw memorial to Soviet soldiers. The installation put up on Russia’s Victory Day holiday included hundreds of fluttering blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and crosses serving as symbolic grave markers. The protesters, mostly Ukrainians but also Poles, blocked Ambassador Sergey Andreev’s passage. The Russian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized Poland over the incident, saying the Warsaw government was informed in advance of the ambassador’s plan to visit the Red Army cemetery and memorial and didn’t act to ensure that he could pay his respects.