Chicago Ukrainian Americans Protest Against Russian Invasion

CHICAGO — On the heels of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, local Ukrainian Americans picketed on the Northwest Side and in their nationalities' namesake neighborhood, Ukrainian Village, on Thursday. And more protests are scheduled for the weekend.

The Chicago region boasts the second-largest Ukrainian American population in the country, with about 54,000 Ukrainian American residents in the city and suburbs.

Late Wednesday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that included airstrikes on cities and military bases. And he threatened any country that tries to intervene with “consequences you have never seen,” a reference to his country's nuclear arsenal.

Pavlo Bandriwsky, of the Illinois division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said the rallies aim to send a message to Chicagoans and folks across the country that the war is an existential fight against Russia that has implications around the world.

"What's going on is absolutely horrific," Bandriwsky said. "We want Chicago to know Ukraine isn't just fighting for themselves, their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. They're fighting for Western values and the rule of law and the democratic freedoms that we all believe in. That's what Ukrainians are shedding blood for."

Thursday morning, Bandriwsky's wife spoke on the phone with their niece, Ivanka, in Ukraine.

"They feel absolutely terrorized. She has young children. They live near an airport. They were up all night because the Russians had been bombing all the airports to prevent humanitarian or any other assistance coming in from the West," he said. "Poor Ivanka was in tears. They are besides themselves in fear because they never thought it would come to this."

Bandriwsky said local Ukrainian American groups are calling for Biden and Congress to hit Russia with punishing sanctions that "break their economy."

"That's the only thing the Russians will understand is if America hits back with very hard sanctions," he said.

President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered broad sanctions against Russia and ordered 7,000 soldiers to Germany to bolster NATO armed forces.

Orysia Kourbatov, administrator at the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago, said the all-out-war on her late parent's homeland has taken an emotional toll on her and fellow Ukrainian Americans.

"I went from upset and sad, and now I'm pissed and defiant. My main goal is to say that the President, these sanctions are not enough. They have to make [Putin] drop to his knees. He is committing war crimes against a democratic nation, and he's going to keep going. This could be the start of World War III," she said. "I feel like [America] needs to put such sanctions in place that his oligarchs would go after [Putin] themselves."

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America plans to rally at 1 p.m. Sunday in protest of the war in Ukrainian Village at 2247 W. Chicago Ave.