A crowd of unarmed Ukrainian civilians successfully managed to block and push back an entire column of Russian tanks over the weekend simply by surrounding and walking toward them.
Video shared on Sunday showed at least two Russian tanks stopped on a roadway near the Ukrainian town of Chernihiv. Dozens of unarmed civilians were seen standing in the way of the stopped tanks, blocking their path.
In another video, the lead tank in the column can be seen slowly backing up as the crowd walks towards it. The video showed that the crowd of civilians included several women and possibly children, all joining in marching the tank backward.
Olexander Scherba, Ukraine’s ambassador to Austria, shared video of the incident and tweeted, “Oh my. I could cry. A small town near Chernihiv went on the street and stopped RU tanks. People, you are wonderful. #RussiaGoHome #ukrainerules #NoToWar.”
In a translated tweet, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said, “Police and civic activists stopped a column of Russian tanks without firing a single shot.”
The Ukrainian interior ministry did not specify how many tanks were in the column. It was unclear how far back the Russian tanks were marched or where they may have gone after leaving the town.
Another video, reportedly taken in the Ukrainian town of Dniprorudne, showed another crowd of civilians blocking a roadway from being accessed by at least two tanks. The exact timing and location of this second incident is not clear.
Ukrainian civilians have increasingly tried to impede the progress of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
On Friday, video emerged of a single Ukrainian civilian attempting to block at least a dozen Russian Tigr armored infantry mobility vehicles from driving down a roadway.
After one Russian Tigr got by, the civilian tried to stop two more Tigr vehicles that swerved around him and sped away. Not deterred, the civilian attempted to stop a fourth Tigr and a larger transport vehicle. As those vehicles passed the man jumped in front of a fifth Tigr, swinging his arm at the hood of the military vehicle.
As the man tried in vain to stop each individual Russian military vehicle, other civilians could be heard in the background shouting.
Other Ukrainian civilians have taken up arms in resistance to the Russian invasion.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have signed up to join Ukraine’s civilian Territorial Defense Forces. As of Thursday, the Ukrainian government reported it had distributed more than 10,000 automatic rifles to civilians to join in Ukraine’s defenses.
