BLAINE — Charles Sullivan’s red-and-black Ukrainian flag, a rendition of the besieged country’s traditional national flag symbolizing resistance, waved against the backdrop of the Peace Arch amid a crowd of demonstrators Sunday as vehicles honked in support.
The assembly of about 50 people held signs in English and Ukrainian with phrases like “Glory to Ukraine,” “Stop bombing my family,” and “Russian warship, f— off.”
The crowd gathered in a circle at the foot of the Peace Arch on the U.S. – Canada border discussed heroism of the Ukrainian military and civilians. Demonstrators also expressed frustration that American-imposed sanctions against Russia were likely only a long-term solution to an immediate conflict.
The United States is home to about 1 million people of Ukrainian descent, with about 21,000 living in Seattle. The war has weighed heavily on them as they watch families and friends endure hardships in their motherland.
Sullivan, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine and retired Canadian Border Patrol officer, organized the event after a feeling of helplessness washed over him two nights earlier. He and his Ukrainian wife have a 7-year-old son.
“My son is a Ukrainian-American,” said Sullivan, 61. “I can’t tell my son that there’s no more Ukraine. I can’t do that.”
Sullivan, who said he had never engaged in protest before, knew he had to do something. He picked up the red-and-black resistance flag for $1 during three years in the Peace Corps in Ukraine. Until Sunday, it sat gathering dust at his home in Blaine.
“I actually took it out and shook it today,” Sullivan said. “I’d never thought that I would be hoisting that flag. The least I can do is go out there and show the flag.”
Sullivan said he loves the Ukrainian people and wants to show them the same support he experienced when he lived there during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Ukrainians came up to me for days afterward asking how my family was,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s in-laws live 20 miles from the conflict in western Ukraine, he said. They told him they have heard repeated artillery fire. A cousin-in-law is working in a Kyiv emergency room.
Sullivan wanted the crowd, and those passing by, to feel angry about the war.
Many in attendance felt frustrated at the United State’s response to the invasion. Some demonstrators said that while sanctions may help long term, and they are grateful for the efforts, they are not enough.
For some families of those in attendance at the rally, tangible aid cannot come soon enough.
Liliya Zourkos, a Ukrainian-American mother of four, said she has family near the military zones in Kyiv. Some of her relatives have been able to evacuate to smaller villages farther from the conflict, she said, but are still trapped in Ukraine. Right now, they are waiting out the conflict in cold basement bunkers.
Marina Baydak, another Ukrainian American in attendance, said her family lives on the border between Ukraine and Russia, and their hometown is surrounded by the Russian military. She said her family sees helicopters and aircraft overhead. Baydak wants NATO forces to give Ukrainians air support.
The sanctions “are going to work, but it’s too late,” said her husband, Vitaliy Baydak. “We need ammunition, we need airplanes to stop their planes from bombing our cities.”
While discussion at the rally focused on the needs of Ukrainians, attendees also spoke proudly of their compatriots. The demonstrators said they are confident those in Ukraine would survive the ordeal.
“I want to tell Ukrainian people we love them, we support them and don’t surrender,” said Walter Pavlyuk, who also has family bunkering on the Ukrainian-Russian border. “Kill the Russians!”
Pavlyuk, like many other Ukrainian-Americans, has tried unsuccessfully to send money to his family in Ukraine.
“We want to create some website where people can donate and we can send it to them,” Pavlyuk said.
Sullivan urged supporters to donate to those caught in the conflict in whatever way they can. The effort does not stop at a demonstration, he said. Sullivan and his family have sent clothing to Ukrainian orphanages and offered an apartment they own there to family members fleeing danger.
“I just want people to be aware that there are things that they can do,” Sullivan said. “They can put pressure on our government, on our elected officials to go beyond sanctions.”
