Rally to support Ukraine held at Grande Prairie City Hall

The Peace Wapiti Academy languages teacher’s hometown is Poltava in eastern Ukraine. She says it is fairly close to Kharkiv, which has been bombed by Russian forces.

“Watching places where I’ve walked (being attacked). I went to university at National Aviation University in Kiev, and it was something incredibly hurtful to watch and Russia denying that this is happening,” she said.

Ovsiy tells EverythingGP a lot of her family is still back in Ukraine in several cities. She says a lot of people are hiding in buildings or subways, some are staying in their houses, while others have fled to areas closer to the border with Poland.

“A lot of people are hiding. A lot of people are underneath the buildings. It’s not a basement but people are sheltering themselves.”

“People are in subways. Some of our family members are staying within their houses. Some of my friends have escaped closer to the border with Poland. Some of them are in Poland.”

Ovsiy adds the government in Russia is not admitting to its own citizens that this is a war on civilians. She says 300 civilians, 16 of them children, had died in Ukraine as of Tuesday.

When asked if she was optimistic if peace talks would bring about a resolution, she said no one wants a war except for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think now that more news is coming to (the) attention of the Russian population, people who are from Russia directly, I think a lot of them don’t want this war,” she stated.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect this to go as far as it did, and I don’t feel like I have the right to say what is going to happen.”

Ovsiy says this war is not about Nazis in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed, but about power, authority, and a madman trying to take over a country for “whatever his reasons are.”

She adds no one would line up close to 200,000 troops near the border because they don’t want Ukraine to join NATO.

Besides the crowds at the rally, City Hall is flying the Ukrainian flag alongside the other flags in front of the building. The city says in a Facebook post it “stands in solidarity” with the 5,700 people in Grande Prairie of Ukrainian heritage against “these unprovoked Russian attacks.”

Ovsiy says all this “felt like people don’t just support you at home, but they’re willing to come out even in this cold and stand here with us for something important.”

Ovsiy adds anyone who wants to make a donation in support of Ukraine is through the Ukrainian church or through other churches, the Red Cross, UNICEF, or other humanitarian groups. Donations go to support things like getting drinking water and medical supplies.

Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

by Curtis Galbraith