Russia-Ukraine Invasion: 'Shock' To Ohio's Ukrainian Community

CLEVELAND — As Russian troops started marching over the Ukrainian border, bombing and shelling towns and airstrips across the nation, Ohio's Ukrainian community was reeling.

"It's a shock," said Andrew Fedynsky, director of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Tremont. "In the 21st century, to invade a sovereign country is beyond the pale."

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world's geopolitical landscape. Ukraine’s government pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee.

Marianna Klochko, president of the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Central Ohio, has family and friends that live in eastern and central Ukraine. She said she has not heard from her relatives in the eastern portion of the nation.

"I personally cried all the way to work. It was so heartbreaking and inconceivable," she told Patch.

The scenes of war and devastation in the nation give Fedynsky a "heavy heart," he told Patch. Ukrainians, like Americans, wanted freedom, democracy, civil society and a path to economic prosperity.

"To see that undermined and to see it under threat is just awful. It's awful," he said. The Ukrainian community in Ohio is experiencing "sorrow, shock, horror," Fedynsky said, before adding his own call to action.

He said Ukrainians and people who trace their roots to Ukraine are mobilizing in Ohio and across the world. That mobilization can be symbolic or practical, including solidarity demonstrations, blood drives, or medical supply drives.

"I know other communities in the U.S. and untold numbers in Canada and around the world are doing the same thing. There's a mobilization of the community," Fedynsky said.

St. Josaphat Cathedral Parish in Cleveland will hold a "Prayers for Ukraine" event at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Fedynsky believes there will be further demonstrations in Northeast Ohio in coming days. Students at the The Ohio State University are holding a fundraiser Friday to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Klochko said.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Toledo, has issued several statement lambasting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prior to the full-scale invasion, Kaptur called Putin a "murderous dictator." On Thursday, Kaptur and her co-chairs on the U.S. House's Congressional Ukraine Caucus issued a statement condemning Russia's aggression.

"The great conflicts of the past have taught us that Putin's aggression cannot be tolerated," the caucus said. "As missiles tear through Ukraine's skies, and tanks begin to roll through its streets — the Free World must rise up in its defense."

Klochko called on the U.S. and its allies to implement more severe sanctions on Russia, saying the nation should be cut off from other civilized societies. She said Russia's coordinated cyber attacks could impact the U.S. and the West must do everything it can to halt Putin's aggression.

"After Ukraine, who will come next? Anyone could come next. This isn't the 20th or 19th centuries. Oceans won't protect people from cyber attacks or missiles. This concerns people here," she said.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this article.