STORY: Among the protesters was Ukrainian citizen Aleksandr Zhukov who arrived recently in Canada.

She said her life has changed forever when she was fearing for her life in Ukraine's capital Kyiv one year ago.

She attended the protest to "feel respect for Ukrainian people", she added.

Darya Parzie, a Toronto resident who has family in Ukraine, said that "Canadians and Ukrainian Canadians are more united than ever".

She said "Putin is trying to tear us apart, I think he has done the complete opposite and we are stronger than ever."

Ukraine sees the invasion as a bid to subjugate an independent state.

Its outnumbered and outgunned forces repelled Russia's attempt to seize Kyiv early in the war and later recaptured swathes of occupied territory. But Moscow still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.