Politics
3 Years Into Russia-Ukraine War, Chicago’s Ukrainian Community Continues to Speak Out and Organize Aid
Monday marks three years since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, resulting in thousands of people being killed and millions displaced.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would consider giving up his presidency in exchange for peace. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday as part of efforts by European leaders to persuade Trump not to abandon Ukraine while he negotiates a peace agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Chicago’s Ukrainian Village is home to one of the largest populations of Ukrainians in the U.S.
Zoryana Smozhanyk left Ukraine with her family when she was 10 and found a new home in Chicago. Now, she has dedicated the last three years to speaking out about the ongoing war.
“I got to grow up with best of both worlds,” Smozhanyk said. “I got to grow up with fully Ukrainian-speaking parents. I never once forgot my language. I always got to keep it up because there’s so many Ukrainians in the area here.”
Smozhanyk is a co-founder of the Ukrainian Daughters Foundation, an organization raising money to send urgent aid to Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines.
“A whole lot of requests center around unfortunately medical supplies and aid to get to as many people that have been injured, to save their lives,” Smozhanyk said. “And this isn’t just military personnel; there’s a lot of civilians on the front lines.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes, and thousands of civilians have been killed.
Smozhanyk said there’s still hundreds of Ukrainians who have stayed behind to fight, like her brother.
“We’ve gotten very used to the fact that death is staring us in the face, and I think the world has gotten used to it, too,” Smozhanyk said. “And it feels like they have rolled off Ukraine, like, it’s fine, they don’t seem to mind dying.”
On Friday, WTTW News spoke with a group of Ukrainian American veterans. John Steciw is a veteran and a refugee from Germany during World War II.
“They’re saying things now that Ukraine started the war, but that’s kind of nonsensical because we saw it on TV,” Steciw said. “We saw the whole invasion on TV. So, it’s tough.”
Steciw said his Ukrainian American post put together a humanitarian fund. For the past five years, UAV Post 32 Chicago has raised funds to support a military clinical rehabilitation hospital in Lviv, assisting wounded soldiers and individuals with long-term disabilities.
“I mean it’s devastated, completely devastated,” Steciw said, noting that towns he previously toured have been destroyed due to the ongoing war.
Although the war is 5,000 miles away, many, like Smozhanyk, emphasized it remains a conflict that is part of everyday life.
“This is a Russian missile that had landed in Ukraine … a little over a year ago,” Smozhanyk said, holding a large piece of shrapnel. “… This destroys lives, destroys homes, and wipes entire Ukrainian families from existence.”
The message remains resolute among the thousands of Ukrainians living in Ukrainian Village: They want the war to stop, but not on Russia’s terms.
“I mean, Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court for kidnapping Ukrainian children and many, many other cases,” Smozhanyk said. “I mean, this is, as hard as it is to understand and to internalize, the world is not a safe place. Ukraine is the thing that is stopping Russian terrorism from reaching the rest of Europe, from reaching further into America.”
