Because the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, lots of stuffed the Wrigley Constructing plaza downtown Saturday to name for continued U.S. help for Ukraine and an finish to the struggle.
Many have been wrapped in Ukrainian flags, others waved flags, and a younger boy and woman handed out small flags. Some dressed within the nation’s blue and yellow colours whereas yelling chants, corresponding to, “Justice for Ukraine,” “Arm Ukraine Now” and “Victory for Ukraine is victory for U.S.”
“If United States fails Ukraine proper now, it fails democracy, it fails the values that it stands for,” stated Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Illinois Division.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The transfer was rapidly condemned the world over, and what Russian President Vladimir Putin dubbed a “particular navy operation” has was Europe’s largest battle since World Battle II. Tens of hundreds have been killed, total cities have been decreased to smoldering ruins, and Russia was remoted from the West.
Saturday’s rally in Chicago, which lasted a few hours, included a number of Ukrainian musical performances and passionate speeches from officers and activists. It ended with the group marching to Water Tower Place.
Protesters held indicators studying, “No talks about Ukraine with out Ukraine,” “Ukraine is just not on the market,” and “The struggle is just not over.” One other learn, “Make Russia Small Once more.”
“We stand with Ukraine as a result of we don’t need a sovereign democratic nation wiped off the face of the earth,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Sick., stated on the rally. “We stand with Ukraine for a similar causes we fought the Second World Battle, that we shaped NATO, that we shaped the United Nations.”
President Donald Trump final week falsely blamed Ukraine for beginning the struggle, and he has pushed for excluding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from negotiations to finish the struggle.
Now as senior Russian and U.S. officers are speaking once more and setting the stage for a summit assembly, Putin seems nearer than ever to cementing Moscow’s positive factors of a few fifth of Ukraine’s territory and retaining Ukraine out of NATO.
Trump sharply reversed the three-year U.S. coverage of isolating Russia when he known as Putin and stated afterward that they’d agreed “to work collectively very intently” to finish the struggle. He stated Zelenskyy “can be concerned” in negotiations however didn’t elaborate.
Trump understood Putin’s key demand on the pivotal challenge of Ukraine’s potential NATO membership that the U.S. and different alliance members beforehand described as irreversible. ”They’ve been saying that for a very long time that Ukraine can not go into NATO,” Trump stated of Russia. “And I’m OK with that.”
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was in workplace when Russia launched its invasion, stated at Saturday’s rally: “By no means would I’ve imagined that three years on, we’d be standing right here many times” demanding for Ukrainians to “stay peacefully in a sovereign nation.
“To the moms, to the wives, who left behind their properties, introduced their youngsters right here to this nation, don’t despair as a result of in Chicago, you’ll all the time have a spot, a house and a help,” Lightfoot stated. “It doesn’t matter what the dictates of Washington are, you’re our household and we’ll just remember to are protected.”
Because the invasion, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have grow to be refugees, together with some 30,000 who’ve discovered a brand new residence in Chicago, which has one of many largest populations of Ukrainians within the U.S.
Some Ukrainian refugee youngsters attend college with Olena Vasilik’s two youngsters, who’re within the third grade in Norwood Park.
“We’ve inspired them to help them as a lot as doable, to assist them navigate and transition into American tradition, assist them with the language,” Vasilik stated.
Vasilik, 42, stated her grandparents immigrated from Ukraine after World Battle II and she or he nonetheless has family in western Ukraine.
“It’s terrifying simply to assume what they could be going by means of,” Vasilik stated.
She stated it’s additionally been “an fascinating course of” making an attempt to show her youngsters about their heritage. Her youngsters weren’t at Saturday’s rally, however she has introduced them to different rallies and prayer companies.
Vasilik has been targeted on “making an attempt to clarify to them that that is their nationality, that is the place they arrive from, that we ought to be supporting Ukraine at each likelihood they’ve.”
“However it’s nonetheless difficult for them to completely perceive,” Vasilik stated. “We attempt to shield them as a lot as doable from the horrors of the struggle.”
Contributing: Related Press
