Sunday, February 27, 2022

CHICAGO HAS A LARGE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

Our families are dying,’ say demonstrators as truck convoy rolls to Buckingham Fountain to show support for Ukraine, call for peace
A TRUCKER CONVOY I SUPPORT

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Stephanie Casanova, Chicago Tribune
Sat, February 26, 2022, 3:36 PM·4 min read


Zoryana Smozhanyk and her parents stood outside their cars across from the Buckingham Fountain late Saturday morning talking as they waited for a truck convoy in support of Ukraine to arrive.

Close to noon, trucks began to pull up along Columbus Drive, lining up from Jackson Drive to Roosevelt Road and parked as the Smozhanyks and hundreds of other Ukrainians and their backers who gathered to welcome them looked on.

The event, Trucker Convoy for Ukraine, began about 8:30 a.m. in northwest suburban East Dundee. Dozens of semis rolled out about an hour later, ending up at the fountain.

Downtown, demonstrators spread out on all corners of Columbus Drive and Ida B. Wells Drive holding yellow and blue flags and signs and condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for his actions, some with harsher language than others.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, igniting the largest attack on European soil since World War II. Putin has ignored widespread condemnation of his actions and threatened any interfering country with “consequences you have never seen.”

Stepan Nozhak, who has been a truck driver more than six years, organized the convoy as a way to stand behind Ukraine’s efforts to keep control of their country as Russia invades, said Nozhak’s wife, Mariia Salii.

“This is how we can let (the) world know what is happening in our country,” Salii said. “That our families are dying.”

Salii rode in her husband’s truck as the vehicles, also including vans and cars, drove about 40 miles into Chicago, getting honks from other motorists.

Protesters also marched Thursday and Friday in the Loop drawing attention to what’s happening to their country.

Nozhak moved to the U.S. almost 9 years ago and Salii 7 years ago.

Nozhak’s mother and his 16-year-old sister live in Ukraine. So does Salii’s dad, she said.

Salii said she’s scared when she gets a phone call from home or a text message, or when she opens a news story.

Late Wednesday night, Salii got a text from a friend saying, “There is war in Ukraine,” she said.

She said it was unreal and she didn’t believe it would actually happen.

“I was shocked. I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I had panic attacks and this anxiety.”

Salii worried her dad will be asked to join the front lines.

Iryna Ostafiichuk’s parents are in Western Ukraine where they’re not on the line of fire but they have still heard sirens and hidden in their basement.

“It is definitely scary because the person who started the war, no one knows what to expect from him,” said Ostafiichuk, who held a Ukrainian flag. “It’s just devastating to hear all the news. That our spirit, Ukraninans’ spirit just irritates someone’s demons so bad that they’re just starting a war.”

Smozhanyk was working out when she saw that her country was being attacked.

“I was on a StairMaster at a gym and I saw it on the TV, and I almost fell off the StairMaster,” she said. “So it was not a good feeling. I had slept three hours that day. And I had a very long workday afterward. I was very shaky physically, emotionally.”

Smozhanyk and her parents moved to the U.S. in 2010 after getting approved for a green card, she said. They wanted a better life for their daughter.

She has a sister and two brothers with their own families in Ukraine, along with extended cousins.

“My cousin told me he was in bomb shelter and he saw smoke coming out from the shelling,” Smozhanyk said.

Their family is trying to move away from the line of fire but plans to stay in Ukraine for now, she said.

As they waited Saturday, Smozhanyk and her parents chatted with a friend they’d just met, Aleksei Kobernik, who is from Russia and was at Saturday’s rally to speak up against Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine.

Kobernik said he sees it as his duty to show solidarity and to say not all Russians are supportive of their president.

Kobernik, who moved to U.S. two years ago, spoke in Russian, Smozhanyk translating for him.

“I wish for this to end as soon as it possibly can,” Kobernik said. “So as few as possible Ukrainians have to die for this.”

scasanova@chicagotribune.com

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