Protest and sanctions: 6 March 2022 beyond the front line
A look back at how opposition to the invasion of Ukraine took shape in the streets and at the ports in the days leading up to 6 March 2022.
What did opposition to the invasion look like away from the front line on 6 March 2022? Largely, it looked like crowds, arrests and seized yachts.
In Russia, around 4,000 anti-war demonstrators were arrested on 6 March 2022 during protests in cities across the country that were aimed at opposing the invasion. In Kazakhstan, the authorities said they would allow anti-war protests amid fears that the country could be sanctioned, and protesters gathered in Almaty to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Protest inside occupied territory
The day before, on 5 March, anti-war protesters had gathered in Kherson to protest Russia's occupation of the city. On 4 March, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had addressed anti-war protesters in cities across Europe.
Sanctions reach the harbours
Financial pressure was also moving from announcement to enforcement. On 4 March, Italian police seized the yacht of Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov at the port of Imperia. Another yacht, owned by Putin associate Gennady Timchenko, was blocked at the port and was expected to be seized shortly. Both men had been sanctioned by the European Union.
On 5 March, Italian police seized luxury villas and yachts worth 143 million euros from five Russian oligarchs who had been sanctioned by the European Union.
The war near Kyiv
The fighting continued around the capital. On 5 March, Russian troops took control of Borodianka in Kyiv Oblast after days of heavy shelling and airstrikes. Ukrainian authorities said they had been unable to evacuate a psychiatric hospital in the town that held 670 patients. The hospital was by then under Russian control.
Taken together, the reports from 4 to 6 March 2022 show a conflict that was being contested well beyond the battlefield: in the squares of Russian and Kazakh cities, in a Ukrainian city under occupation, and in Italian ports where sanctions were being enforced.
