By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

Photography: JIM DAVIS | FC

MIAMI | “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)!” a friend called out as he walked past Dmytro Reva and his family. He returned the greeting – a sentiment repeated many times that day, on people’s lips and on their signs outside South Florida’s Ukrainian Catholic church.

Feb. 27, 2022 was a day of music, flags and national dress at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church – but most of all, a day of prayer and protest for loved ones who are being threatened by rockets and artillery fire as the Russian invaders grind across Ukraine.

“Russia will never occupy Ukraine. Never,” Reva said outside the onion-domed church just off Flagler Street. “The people will fight always. Russia doesn't have enough power. Even if they have machines and supplies, they don’t have people like the Ukrainians.”

The event drew more than 150 people, who had taken most of the seats in the church during two morning services. Many waved the flag of their homeland; others held up posters in blue-and-gold, the national colors; still others wore shirts and dresses stitched with the distinctive embroidery known as vyshyvanka.

Sunday’s event matched those in other cities around the United States days after Russian forces began attacking eastern Ukraine on Feb 24. Since then, Russian columns have advanced both from the south and north, especially targeting Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital and its largest city, as well as Kharkiv, its second largest, plus port cities on the Black Sea.

The Religion News Service reported prayer services in the large Ukrainian American communities in New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Similar rallies and prayer services were held in St. Petersburg, Apopka and Northport, Florida. New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan not only attended a service at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, but phoned his Ukrainian counterpart, Bishop Paul Chomnycky, to offer support.

In Miami, members of Assumption’s choir stood in the church yard, leading the rallygoers in the defiant national anthem popularly known as Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished. Deejay Alex Veshtebey also played national folk songs and even hard rock, which he said was adapted from resistance music during the Nazi and Soviet eras.

As cars drove past the church on NW 57th Avenue, many drivers slowed and honked. The demonstrators cheered and waved back. Many in the crowd took encouragement from that.

“The support is fabulous,” said choir member Patricia Krysa, wearing a white garment with blue vyshyvanka embroidery. “People are standing with us. They see the broader implications. Ukrainians are fighting the world’s fight for democracy.”

The protest drew people from a wide swath of South Florida: not only Miami-Dade but Broward and even Palm Beach County.

“I feel an obligation to be with my fellow Ukrainians,” said Natalia Michael, who had come from Delray Beach, about 50 miles northward. 

Michael said she keeps in touch with relatives in Lviv, western Ukraine, up to 20 times a day. “It’s hard, because one time, they might not answer.”

“I'm not even Ukrainian, but I have Ukrainian friends,” said a young woman who identified herself only as Jennifer G. “But I'm glad for the support here. It shows who is right, and who is wrong.”

Peru-born Cesar Pastor, helping hold one of several Ukrainian flags, said he came because of his strong feelings about the Russian invasion.

“People in America are too quiet; they should not be,” said Pastor, a certified public accountant. “Where are the church leaders on this? All the churches, all authorities, should come together to protest. Tomorrow may be too late.”

Ivan Levkovsky, 19, came with his mother, Tetiana, from Fort Lauderdale to help hold a full-size Ukrainian flag. He was among several dozen of the 150 protesters who were teens and young adults. 

Ivan, a chemistry student at the University of Miami, shared the worries of fellow Ukrainian Americans for their loved ones back home. He said family members in the southern port city of Odessa have heard explosions, and feared that a bomb or shell could strike a tank and release ammonia.

But he clung to the kind of faith he was taught at his alma mater, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. “There has always been evil, but God is always on the right side. Ukraine has always prevailed. Evil will be driven out.”

Mariya Karachun, holding blue-and-yellow signs along with son Matviy, said her family in Ternopil, western Ukraine, couldn't sleep through daily sounds of sirens and sounds of shooting.

“I have a lot of friends who are Russian, and they feel sorry,” she said. “They don’t understand why [Russian president Vladimir] is doing this to us.”

Father Andrii Romankiv, pastor of Assumption, echoed Krysa’s comments about the war. In a message on the church’s Facebook page, he denounced the Russian as a “brutal, demonic war,” rife with terrorist acts. 

“Almost all our parishioners and I myself have relatives in Ukraine,” he added in the message. “They talk about the brutality, atrocities and violence of Russia's war against the Ukrainian people. Russia is committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”

The Facebook page also announced a “mega-rally” for Ukraine set for 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 5, at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.

In an interview, Father Romankiv said Assumption Church has been sending aid to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia wrested the Crimea Peninsula from the country. He said the aid includes food, clothing, money and medicine. It’s channeled through priests, military chaplains and hundreds of other contacts in Ukraine, he said.

The Russian occupation of Crimea may be a preview of what awaits Ukraine if the current invasion succeeds. Father Romankiv said some priests there were imprisoned briefly, and the churches had to change their names to avoid using the word “Catholic” together with “Ukrainian.”

“Ukraine is not just fighting for Ukraine; it’s fighting for freedom, dignity, human rights,” Father Andrii added. “We should never retreat. We should be united to fight this empire of evil.”