Demonstrators march from Hart Plaza to Campus Martius. (Photos: Michael Lucido)
A Hart Plaza rally in downtown Detroit and march to Campus Martius on Sunday aftenoon drew hundreds of people showing solidarity with Ukraine.
Jefferson Avenue is a sea of Ukrainian flags.
Ukrainian Americans and others carried the invaded nation's flag and signs with messages such as "Nyet, Nyet Soviet" and "Putin / Hands Off Ukraine."
The event was organized by the new Ukrainian-American Crisis Response Committee of Michigan after Russia's invasion Thursday.
It's the second local gathering in three days. About 200 people day were outside St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church in Warren on Thursday evening, hours after President Vladimir Putin launched military action against his western neighbor.
"It's an affront to all democracies," U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Bloomfield Hills, was quoted as saying said at the church rally. "Its an extremely grave matter." He later tweeted: "This community never ceases to amaze me in their resiliency, strength and unity. I will continue to support them in any way possible."
Sunday rally participants. (Photo: Michael Lucido)
A statement from the Michigan response committee says, in part: "Ukrainians are resisting unjust, unprovoked aggression. Theirs is an existential struggle as Vladimir Putin declared Ukraine a fake country. America must continue to lead the cause of restoring world peace and freedom."
The group says it's "a grassroots, informal association of organizations and individuals, formed in order to respond to the escalating crisis facing Ukraine. We are Ukrainian-Americans who care deeply about U.S. interests in the region."
The committee's national chairman, 31-year-old Mykola Murskyj of Washington, D.C., tells WXYZ:
"We're in a particularly frightening time for a number of reasons. First because I, personally, am scared for my friends and family. I have students that I'm teaching online that are in neighborhoods of Kyiv that are currently right now being fought over.
"Second, we're scared for Ukrainian statehood — Ukrainians spent hundreds of years fighting for their independence, and our history books and our folk songs are filled with legends of Ukraine's freedom fighters."
Levin, a member of the House Ukrainian Caucus, tweets this weekend:
I’ve been hearing from my Ukrainian American constituents. Will share some:
— Rep. Andy Levin (@RepAndyLevin) February 26, 2022
“Talked to grandma in Kiev. She said they will fight the Russians with knives if they have to. Said they won't be evacuating and the entire family is in the city.”
Earlier, the congressman reacted to Russia's military strike with undiplomatic language:
Damn you, Vladimir Putin. Damn your lies and your false justifications for what we all know to be a war of choice. Your imperial pretensions and fantasies will be a historic mistake, but tragically, today it is the Ukrainian people who will suffer the immediate costs.
— Rep. Andy Levin (@RepAndyLevin) February 24, 2022
A weekend newsletter from Crain's Detroit Business has reminders of Metro Detroit links to Ukraine that "run long and deep:"
Metro Detroit has long been a hub of Ukrainian American cultural and civic life. Since the first wave of immigration from Ukraine to the U.S. in the late 19th century, Ukrainians have settled here in search of good-paying factory jobs and community with fellow emigres.
Close to 40,000 people of Ukrainian descent call Michigan home, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data, with large populations of Ukrainian Americans concentrated in Warren, Hamtramck, Oakland, Troy and Livonia.
Youngsters honor their ancestry Saturday at a regular weekend class at St. Josaphat Catholic Church in Warren. (Photo: Twitter)
