JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One year ago Friday, Russian military tanks and trucks drove across the border of Ukraine and began a war that displaced and killed thousands of Ukrainians.
In Jacksonville, hundreds of people gathered inside Memorial Park to rally against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Three-hundred sixty-five days ago, Vladimir Putin decided he needed to do something,” said a speaker at the event. “He told the world he was just training people. We know what that was. It was a lie.”
A lie that was captured on television when Russian military vehicles crossed into Ukraine to begin an invasion that turned into a war — a war that left cities and towns destroyed. A war that led to more than 8 million Ukrainians being displaced, more than 13,000 injured and more than 8,000 killed.
Some of the people attending this rally in Jacksonville knew people back home who lost their lives.
“Some of them were killed as soldiers. Some of them died as civilian people,” said Ohla Sokalska, a Ukrainian-American.
“We have some friends who already died. They were killed on the front line,” said Alina Mychka, also a Ukrainian-American. “We are very thankful for them because all the people still in Ukraine right now are in danger.”
Stas Lav was also in attendance at the rally. He was a brief member of the Ukrainian military until he was injured during a Russian missile and shelling attack.
“Before the war, I was not in the military. I was a civilian,” Lav said, via a translator. “But when the Russian occupation happened, I joined the military because I wanted to protect my family, my kids and my country.”
Also among the crowd were people with no ties to Ukraine.
“Even though I had no prior links to the country, I think like many people that it felt like an assault on the freedom that I have. I live in a country that’s free,” said Gboybga Festus, a Nigerian-American.
And then we also met Irena, who is originally from Northern Russia, but moved to Jacksonville 15 years ago.
“I’m ashamed of the government of Russia doing this awful act of aggression towards people in its neighboring country,” she told us. “There are so many Russians that have Ukrainian friends and relatives. A big percentage of Russians are related to Ukrainians. So, for us, this war was a complete shock.”
The Russian woman we spoke with says, unfortunately, there are many people back home who only support Russia’s invasion because they believe the lies that are being told in news there.
Ukraine’s leader pledged to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians marked the somber anniversary of the Russian invasion that upended their lives and Europe’s security.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Feb. 24, 2022 was Ukraine’s “longest day” but the country’s dogged resistance a year on has proven that “every tomorrow is worth fighting for.” On a day of commemorations, reflection and tears, the Ukrainian president’s defiant tone captured the national mood of sorrow and resilience in the face of Europe’s biggest and deadliest war since World War II.