Ukranians are marking a somber anniversary…it was one year ago that the Russian army invaded their country.
The Rochester area has a large Ukrainian-American population and a number of local members of that community have said that they are thankful for the continued support of the war effort.
The issue of support takes different forms. Local Ukrainian-Americans that WXXI News spoke with this week are hoping for continued military support from the U.S. and other NATO countries, as well as humanitarian support.
And that type of support, in the form of medical supplies, clothing and cash, has been plentiful locally according to Irene Burke, who is involved with the locally based charitable organization RocMaidan.
“I bring fliers to the gym and give them to the people who request them (about ways to donate to relief efforts). “So the support is continuous,” said Burke.
Elena Dilai is a board member of RocMaidan and she just hopes that Ukraine can be victorious in the war with Russia, because Dilai said that without victory for Ukraine, there cannot be peace.
“They have shown such will and resistance, they have shown such strength and determination to win,” Dilai said, “and I just wish them to remain that way.”
Dilai added that, “It's heartbreaking to see that Ukraine is completely ruined by now. The country has been destroyed by the war. It's heartbreaking to see all the millions of people scattered around the world, and living in Ukraine without any means for survival and relying on a variety of organizations around the world to help them out to survive…I just hope this will end soon.”
Prayer services were held at local churches over the last couple of days, and Burke said that despite all the destruction that has happened in Ukraine over the last year, the local Ukrainian-American population tries to remain optimistic.
“The hope is all we have, you know, the alternative is to accept that Ukraine will lose the battle, and that's not something we can accept,” said Burke. “So all we have is hope and pray. And we continue to raise funds to support Ukraine with medical and humanitarian aid.”
