SARASOTA, Fla. — Sarasota Ukrainians hosted a one-year commemoration of the War in Ukraine at the Bayfront Park in Sarasota, underneath America’s symbol of victory after WWII-- the ‘Unconditional Surrender,’ because they’re hoping for the same outcome for their home country.
On the grass below the statue was a massive blue and yellow flag with large black letters reading “THEY ARE US.”
“We’re, looking at the huge flag. It was handmade by Ukrainian activists in Germany, Berlin, during the first day of the full invasion a year ago,” explained Organizer Olena Gryniava, a co-founder of Danube International Company, Inc.
“You can see the signatures of each person who took part in this rally actually in Berlin, in Ukrainian, in English…” she showed ABC Action News.
A note from Peter from Australia sums it up: “We are with you in your fight for freedom.”
The flag traveled with a Ukranian refugee to Sarasota for this day.
“All Ukrainians they (are) stuck in February 24 2022 and we still cannot breathe fully and normally and we still cannot live,” Gryniava said.
Gryniava left Ukraine after the war began in 2014. Her father was there when the invasion began.
“My father had spend two weeks under the shelling. He was in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine,” she said.
Her father is one of the 500 refugees that she’s helped escape Ukraine to Sarasota in the last year.
That’s 500 of the 8 million estimated refugees.
“Hundreds of villages are beyond the poverty,” Gryniava stressed. “They don't have roofs. They don't have windows, they are still in the middle of winter and no gas, no electricity and nothing.”
At the event, people could walk in the footsteps of a Ukrainian civilian living the war every day, write letters to soldiers and draw pictures for the children.
Those that came by Friday afternoon were overwhelmed with emotion.
“Just geography is the difference between what they’re going through and this! What we’re living with right now on vacation in Sarasota,” a tourist said.
“You don’t have to be Ukrainian to understand that what’s going on now, it’s wrong,” said Sarasota business owner Irena Strilka, “You don’t have to be Ukrainian. It’s just. to me, it’s black and white. It’s madness. This is horrible genocide.”
The U.S. estimates nearly 200,000 people have died on both sides of the war in the last year.
“My friend. He was protecting Ukraine. He was like he wasn't military. He was actually you Oligarchy,” Gryniava said.
She added that Ukrainians are now scattered around the world because of this war, but no matter where they are, they are together.
“They are us,” she said, referencing the flag. “We're hoping that we will go back and we will rebuild and restore our country, our free Ukrainian country.”
Gryniava said her nonprofit sends money to Ukraine weekly to help with the most simple things, such as food.
She added that they need more resources in Sarasota for the refugees, such as housing and mental health support.
Click here to learn more about Danube International Company, Inc. and to donate.
