Ukraine Rally Leader Says Russians May Be Tortured For Speaking Up

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Many Ukrainians and supporters wore blue and yellow as they rallied for peace in Ukraine over the weekend at Northshore Park.

Some held Ukrainian flags, while others carried signs at the St. Pete rally that said things like: "Putin, International Terrorist" and "Russian Warship, Go F--- Yourself." Other signs expressed resistance toward Russian armies and Putin.

St. Pete resident Elona Krasatvtseva, who spent 10 years as a child with her parents in Kyiv, Ukraine, organized the rally held Saturday. For college, she moved to Moscow, Russia.

"I am definitely shocked about what's going on," Krasatvtseva told Patch. "I feel this aggression needs to be stopped. I lived in Ukraine and in Russia for so many years, and from the inside, I know that most of the Russian people do not support this aggression. But I also know that anyone who speaks against what's going on is taken to prison and is tortured."

Krasatvtseva is worried about her two sisters who live in Ukraine, and she has not been able to get in touch with one of them. She said she is also concerned that her son, a U.S. military airman already serving in Europe, will eventually be deployed near the borders of Ukraine.

Speakers at the rally mostly shared in Ukrainian and Russian about how the Russian invasion has personally affected them, along with how it is affecting their families and friends residing in Ukraine.

Tatsiana Kulakevich, assistant professor at the Institute of Russia at the University of South Florida, translated the speeches to English for a Patch reporter.

"Russia uses propaganda, and even banned the media there from calling the war in Ukraine 'war,'" Kulakevich told a Patch reporter.

Many Ukrainians cried and comforted each other at Saturday's rally.

"I have a son who is trying to leave Ukraine right now," said an attendee who grew up in the Soviet Union before gaining U.S. citizenship in 2019. "I am so scared because someone on the street can blow up a bomb or something during wartime. It's so terrible. My parents and sisters live in Odessa [Ukraine]. I worry about them and about the city because it's a big, nice cultural city. And it has a big port."

A Ukrainian man explained how to donate online to Ukrainians, and he encouraged attendees to reach representatives in the U.S. government and to inform Russians about the real war in Ukraine.

Anyone who would like to donate to help victims in the Ukraine humanitarian crisis can visit Ukrainian National Women’s League of America.