CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The local Ukrainian community observed a Day of Unity on Sunday. The event was held at the Ukrainian Cultural Center on the West Side, and elected representatives at the federal and local levels, leading Ukrainian diplomats were all in attendance.
Jan. 22 holds deep significance to the Ukrainian community. It was on that day, in 1919, that western and eastern Ukrainians signed the Unification Act, which established Ukraine as a unified, independent nation state. The act has been contested multiple times by the Soviet Union and Russia.
Right now, some top concerns of Ukraine and the local Ukrainian community include misinformation about the war coming from Russia, and a lack of urgency in the U.S. Congress to continue funding Ukraine’s defense against Russian attacks.
Dr. Mariya Dmytriv is the president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Illinois division. Dmytriv said any military spending approved by Congress right now for Ukraine is going to save a lot of trouble for both the U.S. and Ukraine in the long run.
"The price that U.S. government has to pay now is nothing compared to the price that could be demanded of it should Russia invade NATO countries and that's a matter of time," Dmytriv explained.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.N. echoed that sentiment and said approval of the military funding would be a "win-win" for the United States.
"The sooner the U.S. Congress organizes itself and passes the supplemental, the better it is for the American nation," he said.
Kyslytsya added that the courageous fight of the Ukrainian people is not merely a fight for Ukraine.
"[The] domino effect, should Ukraine fail, will be unprecedented," he said. "We only compare it with the last World War."
The ambassador said Russia winning its war against Ukraine would be very painful for the American economy. He told WBBM what he told elected officials over the weekend: Passing supplemental aid for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress now, means a boost to the American economy, with most of the money staying in the U.S. for material production. It also lessens the likelihood that U.S. troops will be deployed.
Marta Farion is also with the Illinois division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. She said she sees a lack of care in Congress in this 2024 election cycle with people more concerned by their own particular electoral interests than they are with interests of national security.
"We should be thinking about unity in the United States, as well, and unity in the western world, in the western alliance, and I am very worried about the lack of unity in the United States," Farion added.
"We are a democracy, so of course we have various points of view, but when it comes to the country's security, I think we are missing the ball right now."
The two-year anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine is just over a month away.
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