In New York, it gets harder & harder to see end of fighting
For New York City’s Ukrainian community, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of their homeland this weekend marks a grim milestone and the realization that prospects for victory seem slim amid dwindling U.S. support for the war effort.
In the kitchen of Streecha, a canteen on E. Seventh St. in the Little Ukraine section of the East Village, manager Dmytro Kovalenko, 43, recalled the start of the war.
“We were all nervous in the kitchen,” he said amid the same din he and his staff experienced on Feb. 24, 2022 — sizzling pans on the stove, shelves of dough waiting to be kneaded and the bustle of people sitting down for classic Ukrainian fare.
As days and weeks went by, support from outside the Ukrainian community poured in. “So many Americans showed up here trying to express their support, donating so much money, and that was so meaningful for us,” he said.
But he says that two years into the war, the Ukrainian community is tired. “It’s not easy,” Kovalenko said. “We see that it’s going to take more effort from us. It’s going to last much longer than expected.”
Kovalenko attends weekly street rallies in support of Ukraine. Crowds at the rallies have dwindled as the war has dragged on, he said, and attendance is down to a couple of dozen people most weeks. But they refuse to give up.
“Our community of Ukrainians — we’re trying to remind the world and the U.S. in particular that war is not over,” he said.
On Friday, President Biden imposed a new set of sanctions on Russia — making the announcement a week after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison.
The more than 500 sanctions seek to drain Russia’s funding of the war by aiming at its economy. Biden’s announcement came amid Republican blockage of a bill in Congress that includes $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.
Like other Ukrainians, Kovalenko is grateful for the support the United States has given Ukraine — and he hopes Republicans allow passage of the latest aid package. “I want to hope that all that political stuff will end soon and American government will keep supporting Ukraine as was promised in the beginning,” he said.
Elsewhere in Little Ukraine, waitress Inna Aisina, 21, remembered the day of the 2022 invasion. “We all woke up at five in the morning and you just — the first minutes, you couldn’t believe,” Aisina said. “There were missiles flying over the sky in your town.”
Aisina and the rest of her family, who are still in Western Ukraine, didn’t expect the war to last longer than a few weeks. Now, she wouldn’t be surprised if it lasted five years.
“People are exhausted,” said Aisina, a waitress at Veselka, the famed Ukrainian restaurant on Second Ave. “When you don’t know what’s going to happen next, you just feel frustrated.”
Aisina said the community that she has found in the East Village and at Veselka helps her cope with the war.
“I’m really grateful for this country and for Europe for supporting,” said Aisina.
But everyone needs to do more, she said. “There’s no limit to doing more, that’s why I think we can do more,” she said. “I think even we Ukrainians can do more.”
Christina Obertos, 18, never expected the war to drag on for so long, but now she feels it’s going to last even longer.
“People have quieted down about it and it’s become normal, which is really bad because hundreds and thousands of people have been killed,” said Obertos, who works in the gift shop in the Ukrainian Museum and lived in Ukraine as a child.
Her mother’s cousin and her father’s best friend died in the bloodshed, and her extended family still lives in Ukraine.
“Here, we’ve gotten used to it,” said Obertos. “People in Ukraine, they hear the sirens. It’s really hard to get used to.”
Part of Peter Doroshenko’s mission as the museum’s director for the past two years is “really informing non-Ukrainians about what’s happening there and explaining that you can’t have ‘Ukrainian fatigue’ because people are suffering throughout the country.”
The fact that Ukraine has been steadfastly fighting for two years is remarkable given that the country has had to face a force that is larger than their own, both in manpower and size, said Doroshenko.
“For Ukrainians to hold up after two years, where they are now, that’s like Herculean,” he said. “But even Hercules had his limitations.”