Victorians stand with Ukrainians to mark anniversary of conflict
‘We do not have the privilege of being fatigued while we sit here in the comfort of a free country’
Daria Lysenko says she will forever remember Feb. 24, the day when she woke up to a nightmare. She learned the news from her sister over the phone. Russia was launching an invasion, her sister said. Within minutes, she began hearing explosions outside the windows of her newly furnished apartment where she lived with her husband and her one-and-a-half year old son.
That was two years ago, in Kyiv, Ukraine — the first of many days with sirens and air raids, she told a crowd of about 400 that gathered in Victoria’s Centennial Square on Saturday. “My son trembled every time and hid behind me,” she said, adding that her son stopped talking for six months because of the war.
On Saturday, the capital region’s Ukrainian community and their supporters gathered to mark the second anniversary of the Russian military invasion.
Lysenko, who now lives in Victoria, wiped tears from her eyes while listening to Andriy Yaremyn, nine, sing a song for peace in front of the stage.
For Lysenko, the conflict stretches to 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula. “They removed opportunity to see my parents and denied access to the house where I grew up,” she said.
At the rally, representatives from several UkrainianCanadian organizations thanked Islanders for their support and for welcoming Ukrainian newcomers into their communities.
Karen McNamara, founder of the Help Ukraine Vancouver Island Society, said the organization has supported about 1,500 Ukrainian refugees in resettling on the Island in the past two years. “We have a responsibility to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” she said. “We do not have the privilege of being fatigued while we sit here in the comfort of a free country.”
Alec Rossa, president of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, recalled emails and phone calls offering support came flooding into the church when news of the invasion came.
In collaboration with the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, a fund was quickly established to help support the influx of Ukrainian refugees making a new home in Victoria, he said. “Dave Obee and Jack Knox at the Times Colonist Christmas Fund presented us with a $100,000 donation to immediately start helping the newcomers to South Vancouver Island.”
Help from other sources swiftly followed. Efforts from local businesses, the Kiwanis society board and the Victoria Foundation eventually led to the establishment of the Kiwanis Ukrainian Village in August 2022, he said.
Andriy Fabrikov, president of the Ukrainian-Canadian Cultural Society of Vancouver Island, thanked all who opened their houses, fundraised and volunteered to help Ukrainians fleeing from war. “Today, we step into the third year of the brutal and awful period of our history.”
Speaking at the rally, Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar said that while he didn’t know much about the situation when the conflict first started, it has since become a personal cause after he joined a local humanitarian mission to Ukraine last year.
“Freedom is at risk and we need to continue to fight for the Ukrainian people,” he said, adding people in the capital region have already helped raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for generators, school buses and medical supplies for Ukraine.
Dima Borysenko, Ukrainian Canadian Congress Victoria branch president, said similar rallies were held in 45 other communities in Canada on Saturday.
There was increased police presence at Centennial Square and throughout downtown Victoria on Saturday, a day which saw two rallies in the city core.
A rally and march at the B.C. legislature, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, occurred at around the same time as the rally for Ukraine in Centennial Square.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau surveyed the wreckage of one of the first battles in the brutal war that has gripped Ukraine for the last two years as Ukrainians used Saturday’s anniversary of the fighting to take stock of a still uncertain future.
The prime minister joined other world leaders in a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to sign a new security agreement with the embattled country, including a pledge for $320 million in new military spending by the end of the year.
The visit was part of a global campaign to showcase international solidarity with Ukraine in the face of a plodding, bloody conflict that, experts say, has no end in sight.
Trudeau appeared at Hostomel airport alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Behind them, the scorched husks of destroyed aircraft and the blackened walls of the airport served as a stark backdrop, a bitter reminder of the invasion’s earliest days.
“Putin was sure he could easily take strategic targets like this airport. Russian forces tried to make quick work of Hostomel airport — and with it, Kyiv,” Trudeau said. “Well, we are standing here today because he was wrong.”
The visit was Trudeau’s third to Ukraine since the war began.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his long-feared invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. His paratroopers raided the airport just hours after the start of what he called a “special military operation.” Two years later, the wreckage of that battle remained strewn behind the leaders as they took turns speaking. “Putin cannot win,” Trudeau said in his speech. “Ukraine will see victory, just like what happened on this ground two years ago.”
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson was also on hand for the anniversary, as well as Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Absent were countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Poland, but they signalled their allegiance through public statements on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a rousing speech in Ukrainian, praising the bravery and sacrifice of Ukrainian troops defending their country and thanking his allies.
“Throughout all of this war you have been with us, with Ukrainians,” Zelesnkyy told the leaders at Hostomel. “It is extremely important to know that Ukraine can rely on such support as yours.”
The sentiment was felt in the heart of Kyiv Saturday as people wept while they looked for the faces of their loved ones on the walls around Mykhailivsky Golden-Domed Monastery. The walls are adorned with pictures of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers killed in hostilities with Russia dating back to 2014.
“I think it’s my personal, spiritual duty to remember, myself, every year, what happened with us, with our country, with my life,” said Andriy.
Many people left flowers in front of the tribute, including Trudeau, who laid a wreath before the wall of remembrance.
Andriy said the war has made him tougher, and more realistic about the hardships of life. He believes Ukraine will stand, but only with the help of allies, such as Canada. “We will have enough inside motivation, we will have spiritual resources to win this war but we have not enough material resources,” he said.
The new security pact with Zelenskyy constitutes a longterm commitment to Ukraine’s security, Trudeau said at the end of Saturday’s visit.
In addition to $320 million in new military spending, which is due by the end of the year, the deal calls for Canada to grant $2.4 billion in loans for Ukraine, to be administered through the International Monetary Fund. The loans will be used to repair bombed-out roads, pay essential workers and allow the Ukrainian government to support its people who are living through war, Trudeau said. He also announced $75 million to help finance the country’s demining efforts and intelligence gathering.
Despite similar sentiments from across the global coalition of support, European countries are struggling to find enough stocks to send to Kyiv, while $60-billion US worth of U.S. help is stalled over political differences. Trudeau has also attracted criticism for failing to deliver all the military aid Canada has promised.
The delays have frustrated Zelenskyy, who fears — like others — that such holdups amid domestic political squabbles are playing right into the hands of an ever-patient Putin.
“I’m grateful for every support package that helps our soldiers to fight, that helps our state to change and to become stronger,” Zelenskyy said. “Putin must be defeated, must lose in everything, like it was in Hostomel.”
Last week, Russia took complete control of the city of Avdiivka, about 706 kilometres east of the capital, where troops had battled fiercely over a chemical plant for weeks. A Russian drone attack late Friday struck a residential building in the southern city of Odesa, killing at least one person and injuring others.
As he closed his visit while speaking with reporters, Trudeau launched a blistering attack on Putin, calling the Russian leader a “weakling” who uses police and the military to crush his opposition.
Trudeau accused Putin of “executing” opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died unexpectedly a week ago in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
Navalny, 47, was roundly considered Putin’s greatest political foe. The Kremlin has rejected allegations that Putin was involved in Navalny’s death.
“I think we know, we’ve seen, repeatedly, the extent to which any opposition in Russia is either marginalized or, quite frankly, executed,” Trudeau said.
“What happened to Alexei Navalny demonstrates that for all that Putin pretends to be strong, he’s actually a coward.”