The Netherlands will mark one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine with demonstrations and events all over the country on Friday.

The Jaarbeurs exhibition centre in Utrecht is hosting a special memorial event, including live performances and speeches. The idea for the event was born at Vital’nya, the ‘living room’ for refugees from Ukraine in Utrecht.

In the morning, the route from Utrecht Central station to Jaarbeurs and back will be turned into ‘The Walk of Hope’ – following the route which Ukrainian nationals took when they first arrived in the city.

The Tour De Ambulance travelling exhibition featuring an ambulance that was destroyed in Kharkiv will also be on the Jaarbeursplein in central Utrecht on Friday, before moving on to Amstelveen, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. It tells the stories of 12 medics who were killed in the line of duty.

Support

In Groningen, the Grote Markt will host a demonstration from 4pm to 6pm. The aim, the organisers say, is to ‘commemorate those who fell in the cruel fight for independence and freedom and to express our gratitude for the support Ukrainians have received from the Netherlands, and Groningen in particular’.

In The Hague, there will also be a march of solidarity and an exhibition of 48 wartime posters by contemporary Ukrainian artists is currently on at the Design Museum Dedel until May 21.

A benefit concert featuring Ukrainian musicians will be held in Amsterdam’s Lutherse Kerk, and livestreamed, on February 24. It is an initiative of the University of Amsterdam, the TRIDA Foundation and others, and organisers hope to raise tens of thousands of euros for food and medicine for Ukraine, as well as scholarships for Ukrainian children studying music at The Hague’s Davidsbündler Music Academy.

82,000

Some 82,000 people from Ukraine have registered with a Dutch local authority since their country was invaded by Russia a year ago on Friday, according to national statistics office CBS.

Most have moved to the four big cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht but Almere, Westland, Dordrecht and Haarlemmermeer have also proved popular, the CBS said.

Over half the Ukrainian refugees live at addresses which are not normally residential and 20% live with Ukrainians who were already resident in the Netherlands before the invasion. And by January 1 2023, some 16,700 had moved on to another country or returned home, most of whom were men, the CBS said.

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