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On Saturday, August 26, a march to the Independence Day of Ukraine took place in Washington. Activists from Ukraine, the USA and other countries that support Ukraine marched from the White House to the monument to Taras Shevchenko in the American capital.

As she noted during the campaign Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA Oksana Markarovaduring August in different towns of the USA, about a hundred actions for the Independence Day of Ukraine took place, thanks to which the US authorities and Americans are reminded of how important the support of Kyiv is.

“Together with the community here, we not only say thank you to our strategic partner, but also discuss what are the priorities now so that we not only keep this support, but also increase it,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the USA Oksana Markarova said during the event. .

She emphasized that it is especially important to demonstrate support for Ukraine before the US Congress begins its work after the summer break.

“We are actually several weeks away from the new start of the work of the Congress, our number one task is to do everything to ensure that the Congress supports the additional budget for Ukraine for the last calendar quarter of this year,” said Markarova.

The movement was initiated by the organization US Ukrainian Activists (USUA). During the year and a half since the beginning of the full-scale war, its representatives went to the White House every day with Ukrainian flags and called for support.

“When we come to the White House, we have a program of appeals, and we also ask Americans and guests of the country to contact the White House to contact their representatives and ask them to continue the necessary military support to Ukraine, because Ukraine still needs timely military help,” she said President of US Ukrainian Activists, Nadiya Shaporynska.

The activist says that she does not feel a decline in support for Ukraine among ordinary Americans: “Those Americans who pass by the White House approach us, and many of them thank us for being there and for the fact that we inform about Ukraine. And we we feel great support from all of them.”

Representatives of charitable organizations that help Ukrainians and advocate for Ukraine, including United Help Ukraine and Razom for Ukraine, as well as representatives of Ukrainian churches in the USA, who also engage in charity, took part in the action.

Father Volodymyr Shtelyak, rector of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Andrew in Maryland is convinced that although Ukraine continues to fight very hard for its own independence, this time after the victory it will be final.

The father said that after February 24, 2022, a humanitarian center was opened at the church, which regularly sends aid to Ukrainians.

“What we didn’t buy: turnstiles, medical equipment, ambulances, etc. Now we have a new project: we buy food in Ukraine directly from factories and send it to the front lines. We are trying to help those people who are currently in a serious condition.” – Father Volodymyr Shtelyak told.

Veterans of the American army, who are of Ukrainian origin, took part in the campaign for the Independence Day of Ukraine.

“Our veterans at every opportunity try to go to the offices of senators or congressmen who work in the Committee of the United States Congress on Armed Forces or Foreign Relations, who deal with such matters and can help with the allocation of funds,” he said. Ukrainian-born US Air Force veteran Yaromyr Oryshkevich.

According to him, now the main request to the American authorities is to organize the highest possible quality courses for Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighter jet.

“We ask that they be given the most intensive training, so that they are so skilled that they can teach American pilots or foreign pilots, so that they can finish their training in less than 8 months, go to the battlefield and defeat our enemy.” – says Oryshkevich.

Georgian, Lithuanian and Belarusian Washington activists also joined in expressing their support for Ukraine.

“For Belarusians, it is very important to support the independence and freedom of Ukraine, because our common enemy is Russia. And until there is freedom in Belarus and Ukraine, there will be no security in Eastern Europe,” said a participant of the action. a representative of the Belarusian community in Washington Denis Baranov.

He said that Belarusians living in Washington are trying to help Ukrainians: “It is important for us to show that Belarusians around the world support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression, and it is also important for us to show how much Belarusians are doing for this victory. Many of our volunteers help various Ukrainian initiatives, we collect funds for fighters, several people help in Ukrainian churches and other Ukrainian organizations that collect humanitarian aid for Ukraine.”

Representatives of other nationalities who wanted to support Ukraine also marched together with Ukrainians.

Japanese Yuki Haraguchiwho lives in the USA, came to the rally wearing a T-shirt with the Ukrainian trident and explained that he considers supporting Ukraine important for all civilized people of the world: “If you believe in humanity, in the fact that crimes against humanity should be punished, if you believe in freedom, independence and democracy, the things we should believe in, you should be completely on the side of Ukraine.”

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