Ukrainian Headstones Damaged At Cemetery In Baltimore County, Stunning Families

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Almost 50 headstones located in Dundalk's St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery have been knocked over and damaged. Baltimore County Police are investigating the vandalism, Sgt. Gladys L. Brown, a spokeswoman for the department, told the Baltimore Sun.

Brown did not say if the incident was being considered a hate crime, but cemetery administrator Stephen Humeniuk said the timing of the vandalism as Russia invaded Ukraine "is difficult to ignore." He told the Baltimore Sun that he received a call from a neighbor of the cemetery alerting him to the damage mere hours before Russia began attacking Ukraine Wednesday.

“The first thing you think is a hate crime, but you can’t prove it,” Humeniuk said. “There was no notes. There was no spray paint. Nothing to indicate that. It was just the timing of the incident and the crisis in Ukraine. I thought to myself: ‘What else could go wrong?’”

Most of the damaged stones were located in a back corner of the cemetery. Adornments on headstones had been shattered and many of those that had been knocked over had cracked.

“To me, it was unprecedented and it was intentional and it was a hate crime — I’ll say it,” church trustee John Wojtowycz said.

Bohdan Oleksiuk, whose parents and grandparents are buried there, stopped by the cemetery to see what damage had been done. His family's headstones weren't damaged but Ola Kulnich's brother's tomb had been knocked off its base.

“It’s been a tough week,” Oleksiuk said. “And it’s not going to get any easier.”

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski spoke out against the incident on Twitter.

"I’m appalled by the despicable acts of destruction at this cemetery, especially in light of the recent, unjustified attack on Ukraine. We should all be standing up for the Ukrainian people and speaking out against actions against them, whether acts of war by Putin or acts of destruction closer to home. I stand in solidarity with the families affected by this vandalism and with all Ukrainian families living in our communities," he tweeted.

Read more at the Baltimore Sun