Anna Libikh, president of the Ukrainian Culture Club at Pitt and a senior pharmacy student, joined demonstrators outside Soldiers and Sailors Monday evening to recognize three years since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“It means a lot to me to show up and just stand with all the Ukrainians here, but I wish I didn’t have to do it three years later,” Libikh said.
Though the invasion started on Feb. 24, 2022, the Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. As the conflict enters its fourth year, the total death toll is 148,359, including Ukrainian civilians and Ukrainian and Russian soldiers as of Feb. 13. The Trump administration is taking a different approach to the war than its predecessor. About 150 protesters — including Pitt faculty, students, staff and community members — gathered at Pitt both to recognize the anniversary and express their frustration with Trump’s approach.
Last week, the U.S. and Russia met in Saudi Arabia and agreed to begin working towards ending the war, though no Ukrainian officials were present. Trump also made comments falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war. On the Monday that marked the third year since the invasion, the U.S. sided with Russia at the United Nations — opposing a European-drafted resolution condemning the actions of Russia and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Demonstrators at Pitt held Ukrainian flags and signs with messages like “Stop Putin’s war” as they marched to the Frick Fine Arts building, where they held a screening of media related to the war. As they marched, organizers led the crowd in chants like “Stand with Ukraine” and “Hold Russia accountable.”
The Ukrainian American Youth of Pittsburgh organized the event, with help from the Ukrainian Culture Club. Andrew Romanchik, a member of the Ukrainian American Youth of Pittsburgh and a first-year politics and philosophy student, said protesting the war is the people’s responsibility “as human beings.”
“It is a responsibility of everybody to stand up against war crimes, to stand up against tyranny,” Romanchik said.
Some protesters held signs with pictures of Ukrainian children killed in the conflict, with messages that read “Putin killed us.”
“We use the word ‘us’ and ‘me,’ instead of ‘Putin killed Nikol and Denys,’ because it’s giving a voice to them,” Romanchik said. “They are now deceased. They can’t articulate anything.”
Romanchik said the protest was not only in recognition of the three year commemoration, but also of recent political developments. He described recent remarks by politicians about Ukraine as “very alarming.”
“For us, this is about our country’s sovereignty and about our people, so this isn’t an endorsement or canceling of one politician, but this is a reminder that one cannot call themselves a patriot while sitting down and negotiating with the dictator of a terrorist state,” Romanchik said.
Libikh said the recent political developments worry her greatly.
“I think that means that the future is not looking great for Ukraine, and the outcome is not going to be what we want it to be as Ukrainians,” Libikh said.
Organizers were expecting large turnout, Romanchik said, and the crowd included a variety of people including Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians and people with no relation to Ukraine, which “speaks to the broad support.”
“What this goes to show is it does not matter one’s race or one’s beliefs to have to support Ukraine. One does not need to be Ukrainian, nor does one need to be a Republican or a Democrat,” Romanchik said. “You just have to be a human being to be able to stand up against tyranny and in support of Ukraine.”
Joy Stewart, a laboratory technician at Pitt, was one of the non-Ukrainians who participated in the protest. She said she’s been “deeply troubled” by the conflict, as she saw her Ukrainian friend from high school’s family “wracked with anxiety and grief everyday” for their family in Ukraine.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is an injustice, and it’s been happening for years, and I do not want to sit by and say that in history that I did nothing,” Stewart said.
Stewart said throughout the warhas faded from many people’s everyday thoughts, though Trump’s actions have brought it back to the forefront of people’s thoughts.
“I feel like there’s been a sense of renewal for a lot of people, myself included,” Stewart said. “I’ve never forgotten that there was turmoil in Ukraine, but I think just what’s happening with the news that Trump is coming out with, and the statements he’s making just seem like there’s an added threat.”
Tymofiy Mylovanov, an associate professor of economics at Pitt, President of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) and former Minister of Economy of Ukraine, returned to Ukraine when the full-scale invasion began to be in his homeland with his family. As a male Ukrainian citizen, Mylovanov is legally unable to leave Ukraine. Since then, he has been on leave from Pitt.
“Actually, I never regretted that I came back,” Mylovanov said. “I think I would have been a worse person. I couldn’t forgive myself, had I not gone there.”
Though he said the war has been “way too long for [him] as a human,” Mylovanov said it’s given him perspective on war in other parts of the world and that he’s experiencing Post-traumatic Growth — a desire to achieve more and work harder. Mylovanov said he felt his abilities would best be used to maintain education working at KSE during wartime, which provides a sense of normalcy during the war.
“The university can pull resources and have electricity during blackouts, have warmth when there’s no heating in the houses and things like that. And so that means that you also create a place where people can simply be normal, be humans, not be ravaged by war,” Mylovanov said.
Education is also important in building up the workforce for after the war, Mylovanov said, describing their role as “the builders.”
“We are doing what is important, that we have politicians and administrators and managers and mathematicians,” Mylovanov said. “Because without that, there is no point.”
Though Mylovanov said it is difficult to predict what the next steps for Ukraine are in the current situation, he shared some components he sees as part of a potential resolution.
“I think there’ll be some kind of economic deal with Ukraine on investments and support. There will be some deal on troops — I hope — some deal on the economic and military support from Europe, some deal from the U.S. and Russia will get no NATO, defective control over occupied territories,” Mylovanov said.
Sergey Frolov, a professor of physics at Pitt, was born in Eastern Ukraine and lived there until he was nine. Since the full-scale invasion began, Frolov began developing connections with scientists in Ukraine by sending scientific equipment to Ukraine and collaborating with scientists there.
“I did not have [connections] with those scientists until the war started, but it motivated me to reach out and figure out who is doing active physics research there,” Frolov said. “And out of a terrible situation, something good came out, because I found some great colleagues there.”