No British arms for Ukraine!

 By New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined other peace campaigners and anti-fascists outside the Defence Ministry in London last weekend to call on the British government to end all military and economic support for the corrupt Zelensky regime in Kiev and withdraw all British military personnel from Ukraine. The protest picket in Whitehall, the heart of London, was organised by a coalition of anti-fascist and anti-war movements including the NCP, the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign (IUAFS), No2Nato-No2war and the Workers Party of Britain. The protest, that highlighted the Labour government's hypocrisy, censorship, the waste of billions of pounds, and the rocketing cost of living caused by sanctions, was covered by the Canary, the new left daily as well as a number of international news agencies including the Times of India and the Russian communist (CPRF) YouTube channel.

Solidarity with the Ukrainian people!

outside the Ukrainian embassy in London

by New Worker correspondent

An unprecedented international protest involving dozens of Ukrainian political prisoners and supporters in many countries took place last week, to expose and protest the inhuman conditions, torture and killings of political prisoners in Ukraine.  A total of 425 people from 16 countries took part in a one-day hunger strike on 5 August, including 162 prisoners in Ukraine itself, 92 of whom were political prisoners. This was the first ever collective one-day hunger strike by Ukrainian political prisoners, and the first time actions in Ukraine and abroad were coordinated – a historic event.
At Vinnytsia Correctional Colony No. 86 13 prisoners joined the hunger strike; 12 prisoners at Pyatikhatka Penal Colony No. 122; four prisoners at the Nikolaev and Lviv Pre-Trial detention Centres; seven prisoners at the Lukyanivskiy Pre-Trial detention Centre in Kiev, and four political prisoners under house arrest in Kiev. Around 50 relatives and anti-fascists in Ukraine also took part.
This incredible action was organised by the Ukrainian Association for the Protection of the Rights of Political Prisoners and Human Rights, founded by the Mikhail Alexander  Kononovich, and the Platform of International Solidarity for Political Prisoners.
Outside Ukraine, the Anti-Imperialist Front (AIF) and the Turkish People’s Front supported the call of the Ukrainian political prisoners, mobilising hundreds of people to participate to join the one-day hunger strike and other solidarity actions.
260 people from 15 countries joined the one-day hunger strike, including 117 in Greece (of which 14 were political prisoners), 66 in France, 25 in Turkey (including nine political prisoners), eight in Belarus, seven in Britain, five in Russia, five in the Basque Country and 18 others in Europe.
In the words of the AIF, “The voice of Ukrainian political prisoners was widely heard throughout the world and caused a great wave of solidarity”. Nearly 40 organisations from a dozen countries supported the action of Ukrainian political prisoners, including Borotba (Ukraine) and the Union of Communists of
Ukraine, along with the New Communist Party and International Ukraine Anti-Fascist
Solidarity in Britain (IUAFS). Many solidarity were also held, as far away as Paraguay, and in Britain a protest was held at the Ukrainian Embassy in London with activists from the AIF and IUAFS.
Meanwhile the latest bout of sanctions imposed by the British government against Russia demonstrates that the recent change of political leadership has done nothing to alter the United Kingdom’s anti-Russian policy.
“Since the start of the special military operation, Britain has been waging a full-scale economic war against our country, churning out ever more restrictions in pursuit of an illusory goal” says the Russian embassy in London. “More than 3,400 measures, aimed at inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia, have failed to produce the desired outcome. Each new round of sanctions merely confirms the futility of this campaign.
“Moreover, they are deepening the erosion of international trade, freedom of navigation and financial stability. Ordinary consumers, including British citizens, are paying the price.
“The lasting and just peace that London claims to seek will not be achieved by ramping up military supplies to the Kiev regime and tightening sanctions pressure. It requires addressing the root causes of the crisis”.

Stop arming the Zelensky regime!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined fellow anti-fascists demanding an end to British support for the Zelensky regime at a protest picket in London last weekend. Members of seven different organisations joined activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) in central London to demand that the British government stop sending missiles, shells, tanks, planes and bullets to the racist, corrupt, Bandera-worshipping NATO puppet government in Ukraine. They received a positive welcome from many passers by in Britain's political heart, Whitehall, only hours after a major ceremony marking the King's birthday, with some people even stopping to join the protestors. 
This was probably the largest protest organised by the IUAFS in the nine years since the campaign was launched. We know from many sources that our campaign is becoming more and more widely known throughout Britain, mainly through circulation of photos and videos of the dozens of protests in solidarity with Ukrainian anti fascists in the past. Millions here in Britain have seen videos of the brutal kidnapping of men on the streets of Ukraine's towns and cities, along with the people courageously fighting back against the military recruitment gangs.  
In addition more and more people in Britain are realising that the Zelensky mafia is essentially deeply corrupt and immoral, and that the people of Ukraine – the ones who haven't already left the country – don't support the war against the Russian, Donetsk and Lugansk military forces. 
A flower-laying ceremony also took place at the protest in memory of the 21 young students deliberately murdered by the Ukrainian military in the multiple wave drone attack on the Starobilsk student dormitory. Many of the protesters brought their own home-made placards, one of which declared that the tragic murders in Starobilsk were carried out by NATO's "Coalition of the Killing".
The Zelensky regime is an alliance of big capital and the state bureaucracy, relying on criminal and fascist elements under the political and financial control of the United States.
It is an alliance of neo-Nazis and Ukrainian oligarchs. Vladimir Zelensky's Jewish heritage has not prevented him from allying with the Banderite gangs in Ukraine who use him as a cover to mask their openly fascist ideology.
The Banderas, like the SS in Hitler’s Third Reich, serve as a shock detachment of big business. The only difference is that the Banderites, who worship those who collaborated with the Nazis in the Second World War, refrain from outright anti-Semitism having established a national front with the Ukrainian oligarchy. Banderas tightly control every move of state power, constantly blackmailing it with the threat of a coup while the policy of Ukraine is determined by the US Embassy in Kiev.
International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity has been campaigning for nine years in solidarity with anti-fascists in Ukraine, thousands of whom have paid with their lives, torture or prison for resisting the regime installed in 2014 with the support of Britain, the USA and the European Union. Its activists have taken part in every protest since 7th October 2023 in solidarity with the people of Palestine and the Gaza Strip.

We will not forget Odessa!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) and members of the Workers Party of Britain held a vigil outside the Ukrainian Embassy in London on Saturday 2nd May to remember the Anti-Maidan heroes who died at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa on 2nd May 2014.
On 2nd May 2014 a fascist-led mob torched the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, preventing firefighters from intervening and attacking anyone who tried to escape. According to the Kiev regime, 42 people who were defending democratic rights and the rights of Russian speakers died on that day, but this figure is widely disbelieved. According to local investigators the true number of fatalities is well over 300.
For the first time since the formation of IUAFS in 2017, a pro-Zelensky counter-protest was held in front of the embassy, including people wearing fascist Azov emblems – one of whom held a sign saying "We killed the protesters in Odessa". However there were around three times as many anti-fascist protestors as the Ukrainian fascist Banderites. People came out of the embassy to join the Banderite protestors. So the embassy was was clearly involved, and that may be result of the repeated IUAFS protests there. 
There was a large police presence in order to avoid any conflict breaking out in front of the embassy, which is located in one of the most expensive areas in central London. Members of the IUAFS approached the Bandera supporters to tell them we wanted to lay flowers at the embassy gate but were told "it is forbidden". We consulted the police who advised that this may lead to trouble breaking out, so it was decided to lay flowers under a tree across the road. The policy of IUAFS is that its campaigns are purely political, firstly calling on the British government to end all support and collaboration with the Kiev junta, and secondly to extend solidarity and support to all Ukrainian democrats and anti-fascists in Ukraine or living in exile abroad.
The Ukrainian protestors, who were holding Ukrainian, Romanian and British flags, shouted to the anti-fascist protestors "are you Russian? Do your support Hamas terrorists?", and a man apparently from Ukrainian TV filmed the IUAFS activists and also asked "where are you from?".
IUAFS will continue its campaign until democracy, freedom of the media and the right for all peaceful, democratic political parties to operate freely in Ukraine are restored. We look forward to the day when Ukraine is free of NATO personnel and provocations and all the national communities in Ukraine can live side by side together peacefully.

No British arms for Ukrainian nazis!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist activists protesting  opposite the residence of devoted Zelensky fan Sir Keir Starmer in Whitehall calling for an end to British military, financial and "advisory" support for the Banderite regime in Kiev. While some of those passing by were clearly unhappy to see our protest, many people gave thumbs up signs, and vehicles beeped to show their support. The protest was organised by International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which has campaigned since 2017 in solidarity with Ukrainian anti-fascists and democrats, both inside Ukraine and the millions living in exile. With events in Venezuela, Cuba, and of course the horrific American-Israeli aggression against Iran and Lebanon, the ongoing struggle against Azoz-Right Sector repression in Ukraine has been overshadowed, but members of IUAFS are determined to continue their campaign until the Ukrainian people are liberated from the Nazi plague.
And across Western Europe demonstrations were held in support of the Kononovich brothers who led the communist youth movement in Ukraine before their arrest in 2022.
The brothers say their electronic ankle tags, which were attached when they were released from prison to allow the authorities to control their movements, have now been removed at a police station without a court order. While this sounds at first like a benefit, the unofficial removal of their monitors also puts the brothers at increased risk. They are not assigned to any government agency, which means no agency can be held responsible should a “tragic accident” occur.
“We think we’ll disappear somewhere in the recruitment office, or be murdered at a training ground” the brothers said. “Dear comrades, please be vigilant during these tense days! We have information that the Zelensky regime is preparing another charge under Article 111 (treason, life imprisonment) against us; they could put us in prison. Anything could happen; the Zelensky regime will resort to anything, even murder.”
The two brothers were last arrested in 2025 for “conscientious objection” to participation in NATO’s proxy war against Russia.
In March 2022, they were arrested and charged with “acts aimed at seizing state power” as well as the dissemination of “materials calling for the violent overthrow of the government”. They were later transferred from prison to house arrest. 
Mikhail Kononovich was the general secretary of the Ukrainian Komsomol, The Communist Party of Ukraine’s movement. The fascist regime banned both the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Komsomol in 2015 and all their assets were seized in 2022 following the Russian intervention to defend the people of the Donbas.

No arms for Nazis!

by New Worker correspondent

Protesters sent a message to Starmer outside his official residence in Downing Street on Saturday demanding an end to the British government's support for the Banderite Nazi regime in Kiev. Every day we see reports on social media of Ukrainian troops brutally murdering civilians who have refused orders to evacuate from settlements in Donbas, where they’ve have been chased out by the Russians and Donbas forces along with international volunteers. For eleven and a half years the NATO puppet Kiev junta has rained death and terror on the people of Donbas, and imposed a brutal dictatorship across the whole of Ukraine, and particularly in Kharkov, Dnipro, Zaporizhia and Kherson, and in the past three years deliberately targeted buses, trains and individual civilians and buildings in the Russian Federation.
The protesters, activists from the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign, also called for the restoration of peace and freedom, and looked forward to the day when the fascist scourge was eliminated from the beautiful land of Ukraine.

Viva Venezuela!

by Theo Russell

Last weekend members of International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) campaign joined a major solidarity meeting in central London with Venezuela and the peoples of Latin America who are fighting against fascism, imperialism and war, organised by a broad group of organisations working for our peoples.
The event, “Viva Venezuela – Stand against fascism, imperialism and war” was addressed by a broad platform of speakers including Venezuelan ambassador Felix Plasencia Gonzalez, Francisco Dominguez, the Secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Blanca Eekhout, a Venezuelan National Assembly member and president of the Simon Bolivar Institute for Peace and Solidarity between the Peoples, and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
A display of Ukraine anti-fascist placards was held outside the venue before the  meeting, and new leaflet from IUAFS linking the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine with the growing threat of an American attack on Venezuela was distributed to those arriving.
The changing attitudes to the Ukraine war – as more and more in Britain link the war with their growing economic insecurity – was shown as many passers by on a small side street expressed support for our demands for Britain to stop sending weapons to Ukrainian Nazis.

Remember Ukraine's political prisoners!

 

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) protested at the Ukrainian embassy in London last week against the ten year prison sentence for Anatoly Miruta for distributing humanitarian aid, along with thousands of Ukrainian citizens who have been prosecuted, or even some cases murdered, for allegedly co-operating with Russian forces in the past three and a half years.
Miruta and his mother had organised a makeshift shelter in Syniak, a village north of Kiev where locals collected water and charged their phones, when the town was occupied by Russian troops in March 2022. Miruta said at his trial that all the Ukrainian authorities, soldiers and police had fled from the village, “leaving the people to fend for themselves”.
This month he appealed against his sentence, claiming that the court had ignored statements supporting his case and allowed dubious testimonies from previously unknown witnesses.
The protestors also carried placards declaring “Gonzalo Lira – We haven’t forgotten you”, a reminder of the Chilean-American blogger living in Kharkov who was persecuted by the Kiev government and died in prison in January 2024. An envelope containing this sign was left at the embassy.

Halt aid to fascist Ukraine!

by New Worker correspondent

While racists rallied in central London to listen to the likes of Tommy Robinson last weekend 
the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign returned to south London to picket in the working class district of Brixton calling on the Starmer government to stop sending weapons, money and military personnel to Ukraine, and to end its disgraceful alliance with the Nazi Banderite gangs.
They carried placards saying “Spend £21.8 billion on housing, not on Ukraine “, and condemned Starmer’s plans for massive increases in military spending and the whipping up of a war mentality in Britain – plans which will not go down well with millions of working people struggling with the ever increasing cost of living.
The protest took place against a background of Britain and its allies in the "Coalition of the Willing" desperately trying to put together a so-called ‘reassurance force’ to be sent to Ukraine after a peace deal has been agreed.
It also took place shortly after the hysteria over claims of a Russian “drone invasion” of Poland – clearly being seized on by the NATO leadership – with evidence emerging that it was very likely a British-Ukrainian false flag operation, with Polish citizens whose homes, allegedly “destroyed” by Russian drones, now coming forward to say that they were damaged months ago by severe storms.

Welfare not Warfare – Stop the War in Ukraine

by Theo Russell

At a public meeting on Thursday 7th August hosted by Lewisham and Greenwich CND, Lewisham Stop the War and Lewisham Trades Council the audience rejected “the Labour Government’s policy of lowering living standards and cutting public services and benefits in order to fund an unending war that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people and brought the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon”.
They called on the government “to end its financial and military support for war in Ukraine, and commit to working for a diplomatic, negotiated, lasting peace settlement, and encourage local peace organisations and trade unions to do the same”.
Cheryl McLeod from Lewisham Trades Council opened the meeting, saying “we’re here tonight with a message that cuts through the lies, the spin, and the silence. Let’s be honest: Britain has become a puppet of US foreign policy Whether it’s backing Nato’s endless wars, or supporting the Gaza genocide,
“Our leaders do as they’re told even if it means fuelling death abroad while slashing support at home.Meanwhile, councils across the UK are going bankrupt, over 14 million people now live in poverty, the number of people using food banks has tripled since 2010, and the NHS is short of over 100,000 staff.
“And here’s the truth no one in Westminster will say out loud: Ukraine has no chance of winning this war, even US military officials are now admitting it: Ukraine is outgunned, outmanned, and out of time.
“So what’s the plan? To keep sending billions in weapons, to prolong the bloodshed, so NATO can “save face”? This isn’t helping the Ukrainian people. It’s sacrificing them.
“And as if that weren’t enough, let’s remember: President Zelenskyy, the so-called Hero of the West, chose to shut down Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency. He banned opposition parties. He postponed elections. 
“This is the democracy we’re funding? This is the government we’re pouring billions into while children here go to school hungry?
“We say: Enough. We need peace not posturing, diplomacy not destruction, welfare not warfare.
“No more weapons for unwinnable wars, no more billions for corrupt foreign regimes, no more silence on Gaza’s genocide, no more acting as America’s puppet. And we say: Yes to housing, yes to healthcare, yes to food, education, and dignity”.
Alfie Howls from CodePink UK gave a detailed account of the causes of the war in Ukraine: the US involvement in the 2014 coup d’etat and Nato’s continual eastward expansion. "Ukraine is not a democracy, and many parties and trade unions have been banned. It is intervening against progressive governments in Africa. NATO’s ultimate aim is to destabilise Russia and divide it into small states” he said.
Alex Gordon,  the vice-president of CND, said it was “high time Ukraine was discussed in the trade unions and peace movement, because until now anyone raising this has been accused of being a ‘Russian influencer’...
“...our media, academia and politicians are in grip of a highly influential ‘Military-Industrial-Media-Academic-Complex’ (MIMAC), which is behind such official warnings that ‘we are no longer in a postwar world, we are now living in a pre-war world’ – in other words that war with Russia is inevitable.
“The latest UK defence strategy says that because of the Ukraine war massive spending is needed on digital warfare, new munitions factories, and 12 new nuclear submarines. But this spending is not actual 'investment', it is at the cost of domestic welfare and foreign aid.
“Western governments and the media have blatantly lied about nuclear weapons in Iran, and it was Donald Trump who took the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term as US president.”
Another CND leader, Kate Hudson, said that the majority of young people in Britain now see Nato as a greater threat to peace than Russia, and described how Nato suppresses opposition from member states.
“In July, US B61-12 nuclear bombs returned to RAF Lakenheath for the first time since 2008, as well as to Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. But when Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands demanded their removal, the US refused because the deployment was agreed by consensus. So if a majority of Nato states are in favour, the rest have to accept the decision, overriding their national sovereignty.
“The war in Ukraine is ultimately the result of Nato’s relentless eastward expansion. Nato officials have discussed deploying ‘tactical’ or ‘mini’ nuclear missiles in Europe, in fact their warheads are three times more powerful than those used in August 1945. The Russian responses to such moves mean that the threat of nuclear war is increasing.
“Nato now has partners in Asia, Latin America and Africa and spends $22 trillion a year compared to Russia’s $140 billion military budget. Nato is a blight on humanity in every conceivable way”.
Asked about the motion adopted at RMT’s conference in Manchester last month calling for Britain to end military aid to Ukraine, Alex Gordon said “the RMT has launched a drive to challenge the UK’s massive spending on support for Ukraine. In the past trade unions wrongly supported sending weapons to Ukraine. The RMT wants to challenge that position, and urges other unions to follow our example”.
Members of International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) received a friendly response from the meeting, and two spoke from the floor. The meeting appears to be part of a new campaign and a marked change in Stop the War’s policy on Ukraine after years of appearing to lay all the blame on Russia and perceived open hostility towards IUAFS activists.

Stepping stones to the future

Andy Brooks pays tribute to the NCP

by New Worker correspondent
 
Comrades gathered at the Party Centre in London last weekend to celebrated the founding of the New Communist Party in July 1977. Friends and comrades, old and new, joined NCP leader Andy Brooks and Peter Hendy from the Central Committee in celebrating the anniversary with speeches, food and drink. Sadly our National Chair, Richard Bos, could not join us on this occasion so Peter MC’d the commemoration and welcomed guests that included diplomats from the Chinese and Democratic Korean embassies in London as well as representatives from the labour movement that have long worked alongside us in London and other parts of the country. 
A Korean diplomat read out his greetings at the social followed by solidarity speeches from Marie Lynam of the British Posadist movement, Ian Donovan from the Consistent Democrats, Dermot Hudson from the Korean Friendship Association and Theo Russell from the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity campaign. Other tributes came from a member of the NCP Metropolitan Cell & Supporters group and Peter Hendy who read out Richard Bos’ greetings and a call for a new £10,000 New Worker appeal that starts next month. Peter also called on comrades to dig deep to boost our August fighting fund. They did with a collection that raised £460 for our communist weekly!

Stand with the Ukrainian anti-fascists!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists protested in central London last weekend in solidarity with the millions of Ukrainians resisting the Banderite dictatorship, and the maurading military "headhunter" gangs grabbing men off the streets across the country to send to a war which 70 per cent of Ukrainians no longer support. Dozens of people showed support for the protest, clapped and took photos. Only one person spoke to us opposing our slogans, and engaged in a long, and apparently pointless, discussion. The picket opposite Downing Street in Whitehall was organised by the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity movement that campaigns in support of the people of the Donbas and the Ukrainian resistance fighting the fascist puppet regime in Kiev.

Free the Kononovich brothers!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist campaigners protesting outside the Ukrainian embassy on Monday 26th May against the continued detention of two communist activists who are now being press-ganged into the Ukrainian army.

International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which called the picket, has long campaigned in defence of Mikhail Kononovich and his brother Alexander, leading activists of the Leninist Communist Youth of Ukraine, the youth wing of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
The Kononovich brothers were arrested on 2nd March 2022 on trumped up charges of being “propagandists” aiming to “destabilise” the internal situation in Ukraine. They were then
subjected to months of beatings, torture, abuse and sleep deprivation in solitary confinement in the dungeons of the secret police. International pressure eventually forced the Kiev regime to release them. They have only appeared in court for initial processing. They have never had the opportunity of a full trial for the political charges against them. Now the brothers are back in jail.
On 22nd May Mikhail and Alexander were held by the police while on their way to a hospital. They were then taken to a military recruitment centre for allegedly evading military service. When they called their lawyer he too was arrested and taken to another military recruitment centre.
The brothers have issued this statement: "Comrades, we officially declare: Zelensky's regime wants to kill us! They want to send us to the front and then nothing needs to be proven, whether we are guilty or not, no one will care. They will kill us, no problem!
"The regime will now decide how to deliver us to the Volyn region, where we are registered and are on military registration. This is what is happening, comrades! They will not leave us alone, they have planned our murder".

Remember Odessa 2014!

by New Worker correspondent
 
On Saturday 3rd May members of International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity and several other organisations held a vigil in solidarity with the families of those who died in the Odessa massacre of 2014 outside the Ukrainian embassy in London.
They carried signs saying "Remember Odessa 02.02.2014" in English, Russian and Ukrainian. After the vigil they laid flowers at the gate of the embassy, and a letter addressed to ambassador Valery Zaluzhnyi was left by New Communist Party of Britain general secretary Andy Brooks.
Eleven years after the tragic events of 2nd May 2014 no-one has been brought to justice for these crimes, and no independent, local or international inquiry has ever been held. And according to the European Council an investigation by Ukrainian authorities in November 2015 “had lacked "institutional and practical independence".
On 13th March 2025 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Ukrainian authorities had failed to prevent or end the violence on that day or to “ensure timely rescue measures for those trapped in the fire,” and said that since 2014 the Ukrainian authorities had “failed to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events”.
The court ruled that these failures were in violation of Article 2 (right to life/investigation) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
While the ruling was widely covered by the Russian and Ukrainian media it appears to have been totally ignored by leading Western media outlets, including the BBC, Reuters and CNN.
However the virulently pro-Ukrainian website EUvsDisinfo dismissed the ruling as "recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about the Odessa tragedy and about Nazi Ukraine". EUvsDisinfo is run by "a team of experts" called the "East Stratcom Task Force", which operates under the EU High Representative. Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister.

May Day in London

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades and other activists from the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity campaign joined the May Day march through central London this week with banners calling for justice for the families of those murdered at the Odessa Trade Union House on 2nd May 2014, and for solidarity with the many thousands of political prisoners in Ukraine, many of whom have been beaten, tortured, or murdered. Many organisations at the march expressed their support for the banners. Many photographers also took pictures, some of which have already appeared on British social media channels. 

No to Endless War!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity were out over the Easter weekend holding a protest picket in the East End of London calling for Britain to stop sending weapons and money to the Zelensky regime in Kiev.
They also held placards opposing Prime Minister Starmer's plans for huge increases in military spending, at a time when millions in Britain are struggling to survive and public services are desperate for money.
The protest organisers said that Britain and its European allies, while calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine, actually want to see an endless war with the aim of weakening the Russian Federation, starting with sending troops masquerading as “peacekeepers” into Ukraine, regardless of the cost to the people of Ukraine or the danger of war with Russia. But most countries in the EU have already refused to send troops to Ukraine – even Poland. And the organisers say that the people of Europe won’t support these insane plans, after three years of high inflation and seeing billions spent on Ukraine instead of desperately needed housing.
The protest was held in Whitechapel, a working class area in Tower Hamlets with a long history of migration that once had substantial minorities from the Irish and Jewish community. These days over 30 per cent of the population are Bangladeshi. Bangladesh-born Lutfur Rahman, who grew-up in the borough, is the elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the borough is led by his Aspire party, composed largely of former Labour supporters, that won control of the council in 2022.

One Struggle! One Fight!

by New Worker correspondent

Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity joined the National Palestine March in London on Saturday to make the links between the wars waged by NATO imperialism and its proxy Zionist Israel in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon and Ukraine. As at many previous Palestine protests they received an overwhelmingly positive response from those on the march. The IUAFS protest also made the point that the Global South, representing the majority of humanity, was overwhelmingly opposed to Israel's genocidal methods in Gaza, while most developing countries did not support the West's sanctions against Russia or support the Zelensky regime in Ukraine by sending weapons, and had resisted Western bullying and pressure to change their positions.

Stop the proxy war against Russia!

By New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined other activists from the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity movement who were out and about in Brixton last weekend. And they received an extremely positive and friendly response from local people in the south London borough – a working class area with high levels of unemployment and poverty, at their picket on Saturday. Many people showed their support and had discussions with the protesters. These are some of the comments we had from the local people: "Why are we giving all that money to that guy in Ukraine (Zelensky)? He's got houses all over the world...We need that money for ordinary people here!...Fuck NATO! They are killing the whole world!" and "Spend money on people here, not on Ukraine, Look around you, you can see the devastation here!"

Cease-fire in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine now!

by New Worker correspondent

Some 200,000 people from all over Britain joined the national Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Westminster to the US Embassy on the other side of the River Thames on Saturday. This reflected the massive support across the country for self-determination for the Palestinian Arabs, a sovereign state of their own, and a secure life free from hunger and ceaseless Israeli military and Zionist settler violence. 
They were joined by anti-fascist activists calling for NATO to end its war in Ukraine and an end to Israel's genocidal wars who received an overwhelming, 100 per cent positive response from supporters of Palestinian liberation last weekend. Their protest was organised by International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which has campaigned in solidarity with anti-fascists and democrats in Ukraine and in exile since 2017.
Over 100 people, including many media photographers and journalists, filmed or took photos of the IUAFS action, and over 40 joined the campaigners briefly to have their photos taken with the protesters. The enthusiasm for the IUAFS was incredible and many people thanked us for linking NATO’s role in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. 
The protesters were most appreciative of the placards declaring that the Global South, the majority of humanity, oppose Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, NATO’s support for the Banderite gangsters in Kiev, and the ten years long bombing of the people of Yemen.
Members of IUAFS believe that their solidarity actions will still be needed long after an agreement to end the conflict is Ukraine is reached. They point out that Britain and its imperialist allies are already planning networks to conduct terrorism in the future with the eventual goal of destroying and dividing the Russian Federation.

Stop Ukrainian Nazism!

 

by Theo Russell

A candlelit vigil was held in Whitehall last Saturday to remember the thousands of journalists, bloggers, politicians, activists, priests, pensioners and sportspeople who have been arrested, and many tortured or murdered, since the February 2014 NATO-backed coup in Kiev.
The event was organised by the International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), which has been campaigning for six years in solidarity with anti-fascists and democrats in Ukraine who have been arrested for opposing the war, organising Second World War commemorations, allegedly working with Russian forces such as organising humanitarian supplies or corridors, or simply for posts on social media.
In January 2024 Chilean-American blogger Gonzalo Lira died in prison in the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkov, where he had been imprisoned for eight months charged with “justifying Russia’s war efforts” in Ukraine. He had lived in Ukraine for many years with his family and was a globally known critic of the Zelensky regime.
Despite calls for his release from the likes of Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, the US government and their embassy in Kiev took no action to help him. The British and EU governments stayed silent too.
Only days after Lira’s death an 82-year-old citizen, Yuri Chernishov, received 15 years in prison with all his property seized – effectively a life sentence – on charges of sending information on Ukrainian troops to an alleged Russian contact. Footage from the courtroom shows him shouting at his jailers and branding them “fascists”.
Since 2014 Ukraine has been a corrupt and lawless state, with Banderite (Ukrainian fascist) organisations like the Azov Battalion and Hitler-admiring Right Sector. penetrating the army, police and intelligence services.
Many civilians have been beaten and tortured in secret prison camps where it’s common for them to be kept standing up in holes in the ground for days on end. The evidence is all available on the web in photos, videos and eyewitness accounts for anyone to find, but the Western mass media shows no interest.
There has never been any investigation into the killing of over 40 peaceful anti-fascist protesters when the Trade Unions House in Odessa was surrounded and petrol bombed by a mob of nationalists and football “ultras” on 2nd May 2014.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have received long prison sentences, with all their property confiscated, for “crimes” such as posting Soviet era greetings on social media, for continuing in their jobs as teachers, railway, gas and health workers in areas which were under the control of Russian forces.
After the Russian intervention in February 2022, areas recaptured by Ukrainian forces were “cleansed” by Kiev’s forces and far-right units, and many local officials and ordinary citizens were brutally murdered.
One such case was reported in March 2022 by the Daily Mail: “The pro-Russian mayor of a city in eastern Ukraine who welcomed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion was 'shot dead' after being kidnapped from his home. Several mayors and other Ukrainian officials have been killed since the outbreak of war, many reportedly by Ukrainian state agents after engaging in de-escalation talks with Russia”.
Many other local officials suffered the same fate, including in the town of Bucha, near Kiev, where the deaths of people shot by a punitive police unit led by a notorious Russian fascist were attributed to Russian forces in our media.
The whole world knows that since 2014 the new pro-NATO regime in Kiev has treated Russian-speaking Ukrainians as second-class citizens. Over 20 per cent of Ukrainians consider Russian their native language, but around 80 per cent also speak and read Russian.
Russian has been removed as an official language in Ukraine. Russian books, banned in all educational settings and libraries, have all been destroyed by the authorities