Zoryana Smozhanyk has lived in the United States for about 17 years, calling herself a proud “Ukrainian American.” But three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, she told hundreds gathered at a rally Saturday that the Ukrainian portion of her identity is possible because of those fighting for freedom overseas.
“I am a Ukrainian American because there is still a Ukraine, because we are a free and independent nation,” said Smozhanyk, co-founder of the Illinois nonprofit Ukrainian Daughters Foundation. “If Russia were to stop fighting this very second, there would be no more war. If Ukraine were to stop defending itself, there would be no more Ukraine.”
Hundreds gathered downtown Saturday, waving Ukrainian flags and carrying signs that read “Ukraine is not for sale” and “Putin the war criminal.” The group, which included politicians and veterans of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, also sang the Ukrainian national anthem and marched down Michigan Avenue.
The rally was held to mark three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has turned into Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. The group also pushed for economic and military support from the U.S. and for strengthening sanctions on Russia.
Tens of thousands have been killed in the war, entire cities have been reduced to smoldering ruins, and millions of Ukrainians became refugees.
“Ukrainian people have shown unparalleled courage in the face of brutal aggression. They are defending the same values that America stands for. Victory for Ukraine is victory for the United States and for the free world,” said Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s Illinois division.
However, as senior Russian and U.S. officials are talking again and setting the stage for a summit meeting, Putin appears closer than ever to cementing Moscow’s gains of about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory and keeping the country out of NATO.
President Donald Trump sharply reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia when he called Putin and said afterward that they agreed “to work together very closely” to end the war. He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “will be involved” in negotiations but didn’t elaborate. On Wednesday, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections.”
Kyiv had benefited from years of staunch support from its allies in the U.S. and Europe that had provided crucial military and financial support to help defend against Moscow’s grinding incursions. Because of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has delayed elections that were scheduled for April 2024.
Dmytriv-Kapeniak called on U.S. leaders to continue “exerting economic and diplomatic pressure on Putin’s regime.” She called Trump’s recent comments “very hard” and “disheartening” but said supporting Ukraine isn’t a partisan issue.
“If (the) United States fails Ukraine right now, it fails democracy,” she said. “It fails the values that it stands for.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, said at the rally that it’s important to stand with Ukraine “because we don’t want a sovereign democratic nation wiped off the face of the earth.” Defending Ukraine makes the U.S. safer, he said.
“Victory means the 1991 borders. Victory means returning the stolen children,” said Quigley, D-Ill. “Victory means returning prisoners of war, rebuilding Ukraine, holding those accountable through reparations and for war crimes.”
The price of the war has been “tremendous,” with many Ukrainians losing a relative, friend or neighbor, said Liliia Popovych, a board member on the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s Illinois division. Because of these sacrifices, she said, Ukraine won’t give up the fight.
“If the new administration says that Ukrainians may become Russian one day, we never (were) Russian, we are not Russian and we never will be Russian,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
