NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A week after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, New Yorkers continue to gather around Times Square in protest of the ongoing war, one of many rallies taking place around the city and the world.
Ukrainian flags presented on the surrounding billboards show the vibrant yellow and blue colors as echoes from protesters singing traditional Ukrainian songs are heard. However, as protests increase, the attacks on Ukraine don’t seem to be slowing down.
“I think, I speak for a lot of Ukrainians around the world, where it's still really, really difficult to come to terms with nobody believing this is real,” Maryna Prykhodko, a board member of Razom for Ukraine in New York. “And nobody knows what to do to stop it. And nobody knows what to do.”
Protests have been taking place since the first day of the attack on Feb. 24, calling on President Vladimir Putin to stop. While Ukrainians are moved by the support, some say that it is now too late.
“I'm thankful for it (the protests) and all Ukrainians are so thankful and so grateful for this show of solidarity, but it's a little too late,” Prykhodko said. “It should have been much earlier when we were you know, ringing the bells and sounding the alarms about the evil potential of the Putin regime.”
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The threats didn’t start in 2022, they started eight years ago in 2014. The armed conflict erupted as Russia began regular shelling along the Russian and Ukrainian-controlled border regions along the east. It escalated into a full invasion just recently, but the area has been under constant threat for years.
“When the actual war started in 2014, we got a pretty lackluster response, we were sort of kicked to the side and said, 'Well, you've got to deal with this on your own' and, you know, you don't really expect a lot of support on the international scale, which was so disappointing and so disheartening,” Prykhodko said.
New York City is currently home to over 150,000 Ukrainians, among the biggest communities in the country. Many families within Ukraine are currently in hiding in bomb shelters. Some cut off due to lack of service and some worry as they experience food shortages in areas that are blocked off.
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“It could be 3 a.m. in New York, but that's already 10 a.m. in Ukraine, and it could be a really, really, really terrible time,” Prykhodko said. “Because it's really unpredictable, you don't know if they're going to shell at night or in the morning, and you need to be ready.”
With much sadness, Ukrainian communities in New York strive to help them in any way they can. The Ukrainian community abroad and especially in the United States has completely mobilized and galvanized to help in any way possible.
“I feel very privileged to have the light that I have here,” Iryna Kit, a Ukrainian nurse in New York City, said. “I think most of us feel very guilty like we are not doing enough. Even though we're not sleeping and working around the clock, it still feels like it's not enough.”
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More than 1 million refugees have now been forced to leave Ukraine in just a week, according to the United Nations. Half of those refugees are children, according to UNICEF, and Europe may be facing its largest refugee crisis since World War II. Many Ukrainians do not want to leave their country.
“My family members certainly don't want to be viewed as refugees, and they don't want to cause or be a part of another refugee crisis in Europe,” Prykhodko said. “My family are pretty resolute in their decision to stay within Ukraine. And for what it's worth, they're hopeful that this will all be over very soon. And they all believe in the power and the strength of the Ukrainian army to defend Ukraine.”
The United Nations, G7, and EU members continue to condemn Russian actions and promise to respond.
“Everything will end very soon but if it doesn't, we just don't want people to be desensitized to what they're seeing,” Kit said.
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