As the world marks three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, negotiations continue to try and end the conflict, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced.
After steadfast support from the Biden administration, the Ukrainian diaspora is worried about a dramatic shift in U.S. policy in the Trump administration.
This past weekend, members of Arizona’s growing Ukrainian community marched in Phoenix.
Hundreds gathered at Colter Park along Seventh Avenue adorned with blue and yellow Ukrainian flags, holding signs and banners reading: “Stop the Russian War”, “Justice for War Crimes” “Support Ukraine Defend Freedom” and “NATO Membership for Ukraine.”
Dimitro Kulyk is walking with his young family.
“The war is raging, so it’s important to remember that and keep reminding the world and people in the U.S. that the war is not over and we still need Ukraine to be supported,” Kulyk said.
Kulyk came to Arizona in 2022, shortly after the war started after moving his family to Poland first.
As one of the many arrivals from Ukraine, he has this message for Americans skeptical of efforts to support his homeland’s defense.
“I just want to ask everyone to remember that Ukraine is fighting not only for itself, but also for democracy and a lot of values that I hope Ukraine and the rest of the free world, including the U.S. are sharing. So it’s important to stand for those values, or else those values mean nothing.”
Kulyk and his family have already started a new life in Phoenix and are hoping to stay here for good.
Another new Arizonan is Ana Ivaschenko, who also left everything she knew behind three years ago.
“I woke up because of [an] explosion next to my apartment complex, the first day everything started. And I got out because I was scared for my life.”
Ivaschenko says she has nothing to go back to.
“I lost everything because war started and I lost my job, I lost my apartment. My region where I was living in Kiev was occupied.”
A former Sunday school teacher, Ivaschenko hooked up with one of her former students, who moved here 20 years ago.
She now works with Lutheran Social Services in Phoenix, helping to place other refugees from Ukraine and has this message for her new neighbors.
“Check the facts before they make any assumptions of what is happening and how aid is being distributed and used. And talk to Ukrainians, if you have any Ukrainians around you, and they know the past because they’ve been there — especially the refugees,” Ivaschenko said.
Continuing down Seventh Avenue, Anolina Gorelik is walking with her father. She came here 20 years ago and is now a citizen helping others displaced from her homeland assimilate.
“Mostly was my family and also from [the] church community from Ukraine, the same thing. And we do what we can, food, shelter, roof, whatever needed — we help.”
Gorelik calls herself an evangelical Christian and believes it’s a betrayal of faith to not support Ukraine’s effort to defend itself.
“Same thing when we betrayed Jews during the second World War, same thing will happen with Ukraine. And we, as a Christian, if we don’t speak up we will be considered [like] those Christians who didn’t support Jews during the second World War," said Gorelik.
Though she voted for President Donald Trump and still supports his domestic policies, Gorelik is disappointed by his recent comments that seem to side with Russia.
“I don’t support Trump calling Zelenskyy a dictator if he doesn’t permit himself talking about Putin, to say Putin is a dictator. It is not acceptable for him to say that," Gorelik said.
Inside the Ukrainian Cultural Center on Elm Street is Christine Boyko, who is president of the local chapter of Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and a secretary at the nearby St. Mary’s Orthodox church.
“I’m at a loss for words for what’s going on. I honestly thought something good will come, and I am hoping something good will still come. But we don’t know," Boyko said. "We just don’t know. It’s such a shock, it’s such a shock to hear these things.”
Boyko says there has to be a better resolution.
It has to stop, obviously. But it has to stop in a good way. Not just any old, flim-flam, hurry up and get it done and have Ukraine cede all the territory that it’s given up,” Boyko said.
Mike Baraban is also inside the center. He’s a Valley attorney and a member of the Ukrainian American Bar Association.
“The last week has not been pretty. But if it leads to a favorable resolution for Ukraine, that is what everybody is after. Ultimately it’s the outcome that matters and the stopping of the killing that matters,” Baraban said.
Meanwhile, as the war drags on, Arizona’s Ukrainian-American community is estimated to have doubled in the past three years, adding approximately a thousand new resident-refugees.
And Christine Boyko says they are welcomed here.
“We have so many new people and they come with their little families and children and it’s been a blessing. It’s like an injection of Ukrainian spirit in our community," said Boyko.
