Riverhead’s Ukrainian community will rally at Riverhead Town Hall on Monday at noon to oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The rally is being organized by St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Riverhead, which announced the event on its Facebook page today.
“Dear Friends! We cannot remain silent when our Homeland Ukraine is being CRUCIFIED in front of the whole world,” the post reads. The rally has the support of Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar and Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller.
“We expect to make our voices heard,” church pastor Father Bohdan Hedz said in a phone interview this afternoon. “It’s not just about the Ukrainian community, it’s about the local community, the Long Island community and the New York community and anybody who can listen and hear about the truth of what’s going on. There are people that are still not fully aware of the gravity of the situation in Ukraine.”
Parishioners at the church, one of the few Ukrainian churches on Long Island, have been praying for peace and an end to the conflict that has plagued Ukraine since the annexation of Crimea and Russia-backed rebel occupation of territory in Eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Tensions escalated last year when Russian forces began positioning troops and military equipment along Ukraine’s borders. After weeks of denials and tense negotiations, Russia, using ground troops and air power, invaded the country on Thursday and pushed into Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 137 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed on Thursday, and accused Russia in a televised address of targeting civilian areas with rocket attacks Friday morning, according to the New York Times.
The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs in response to the invasion. Additional sanctions imposed by the U.S. include a block on technology exports and a ban on Russian companies from raising money in the U.S. Other countries announcing sanctions against Russia include the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
President Joe Biden said he will not send troops to Ukraine, but said NATO has supplied armaments to Ukraine for defense. He stationed troops in Poland and Thursday ordered 7,000 troops to Germany.
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church is accepting donations from the community to send to people displaced by the conflict and to soldiers in Ukraine. They are accepting hygiene products, over-the-counter medicines for the flu and clothes of all sizes — especially those made for cold weather. Donations can be dropped off at the church, which is located at 820 Pond View Road in Riverhead.
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