Victoria Cihouska was a year old when her parents emigrated from Ukraine to the United States for “better economic opportunities,” she said.
Now a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Brawley IB School in Mooresville, Victoria is well aware of the events unfolding in her family’s homeland.
Late Thursday afternoon, as Russia’s attack on Ukrainian cities had begun, Victoria marched in protest in uptown with her mother, 38-year-old Duke Energy accountant Tatiana Cihouska, and at least 200 other members of Charlotte’s Ukrainian community.
“I personally hope that maybe America would get involved, even though we’re not NATO allies,” Victoria told The Charlotte Observer as she processed with the others around Romare Bearden Park. “I really hope that they’ll send more help, not troops necessarily, but more money, ammunition … maybe even possibly doctors, if this actually goes on longer than we hope, because we are probably going to need them.”
President Joe Biden has said he would not send U.S. troops into Ukraine.
Those at Thursday’s gathering held Ukrainian and American flags, and placards with such messages as “Stand United Against Putin,” “Support Ukraine,” and “Love Ukraine.”
They sang the Ukrainian national anthem, chanted “Stop the War” and marched to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center.
They gathered, they said, to raise awareness of the plight of their homeland, the second-largest country in Europe, Russia being the largest, and to inspire more U.S. response to the invasion.
“I don’t want American people being in Ukraine fighting Russia,” 35-year-old Alex Luzanev said at the gathering. Originally from Ukraine, he has lived in Charlotte for six years, he said. “It’s not their war. But I definitely want U.S. and European leaders to help, specifically by providing us weapons and military support.”
Mecklenburg County has the largest population in North Carolina of people born in Ukraine, according to 2019 Census figures, the latest available. Mecklenburg had an estimated 1,290 Ukrainians, up from about 940 in 2010, the figures show.
Family, friends in Ukraine
All of those interviewed by the Observer and other media at the park said they had parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends under threat of attack in cities across Ukraine.
“All of my family is there,” Cihouska, Victoria’s mother, told the Observer. She is from the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, where multiple media outlets reported a missile hitting the airport Thursday. The city is in western Ukraine near Poland.
Victoria said her family couldn’t reach their loved ones. “Internet connection is very, very unstable (where her relatives live), so we haven’t been able to contact them,” she said.
Others at Thursday’s gathering said family and friends they were able to contact have described terrifying scenes.
Lyudmyla Rekurt, who lives in the SouthPark area, attended with her 10-year-old son, Max. Her husband, Peter, was still at work at the private school where both taught over the years since she immigrated in 2005, she said.
“We were getting ready to go to bed last night, and our friend in Kyiv (the Ukrainian capital) texted us,” she said. “’I just wake up because I heard the sound of the bomb and the glasses on the window started shaking,’” she said the friend texted. “’Something is going on.’
“After that, of course, we couldn’t sleep,” Rekurt said. “We started to watch all the news, and then other people started texting us from other parts of Ukraine, our family. And then we seeing this different shooting randomly across the country.”
Help for Ukraine
Rekurt, who now works as a dental assistant, said she treated a full day of patients before getting to the 4 p.m. gathering.
“I just want people to know (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin is a really weak person, because if the person is strong, they will never never do that.” she said. “They will never kill civil people.”
At least 137 people have died — servicemen and civilians — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early Friday, according to the Associated Press.
“It is very sad,” Rekurt said. “It is sad to see kids dying … (killed) sleeping peacefully in their houses. That is not fair. That is not right … We would like Putin to leave Ukraine and let us be the way we like to be. We are all hardworking people, educated people and we know what we want from our lives.”
Live update: NATO to send response units to defend allies
‘It’s so painful’
Tatiana Kytaioba attended the rally with her husband, Travis Keery. Kytaioba, who is from the Ukrainian port city of Nikolaev, immigrated to Kannapolis eight months ago. Her husband is American.
Kytaioba fought tears as she recounted calling her mom and sister on Wednesday. “They tell me they hear shooting, bombs … and I so much worry,” she said.
She laid her head on her husband’s shoulder and closed her eyes.
“It’s so painful for me because I can’t support my family,” she said.
