It’s been three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine, and on Sunday thousands rallied and marched in Boston to bring attention to the ongoing conflict.
After gathering at the Boston Public Library around 1 p.m., the protesters made their way down Commonwealth Ave and through the Public Garden to the Boston Common. They paused at the Soldiers and Sailors memorial, chanting phrases like “Russian is a terrorist state,” “peace is easy – Russia leaves Ukraine,” “thank you, USA,” and “Ukraine is not for sale,” and then made their way down the hill to the Parkman Bandstand.
There they stood in the ice covered snow, with hundreds of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags flying in the chill wind, and listened as local organizers called on them to stand strong and remain defiant in the face of shifting international support for the defense of Ukraine.
“Today we gather again on this lawn to express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine and its struggle for freedom amid months of political turmoil and the unprecedented pressure that is being applied on Ukrainian leadership, Ukrainian people, and military forces,” said Anton Khlebas, Co-Founder of the Ukrainian Cultural Center of New England.
The crowd was mostly somber, as well they might be after three years of calling to an end to the bombing and bloodshed that has punctuated every day for Ukrainian civilians caught in the cross fire of Putin’s seemingly relentless military aggression.
In recent weeks, Ukrainians still living in Europe and those abroad have also had to contend with a stark and sudden shift in American policy, and now find themselves openly wondering if U.S. support for their sovereignty will survive the second Trump Administration.
Rev. Yaroslav Nalysnyk, Archpriest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Christ the King in Boston, said that it is unfortunate that the new U.S. president is trying to “negotiate with the aggressor.”
His mention of President Trump drew boos from the audience.
“We have to remember a moral imperative. The aggressor, and evil, should be punished, and the victims must be always protected,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss assured the crowd that Democrats stood with the people of Ukraine and would continue to do so. He said that he couldn’t have ever imagined a U.S. President suggesting, as Trump has, that Russia’s invasion of a neighboring state should be excused.
“I never thought I would live to see the day when an American President sides with tyranny against freedom. Donald Trump is trying to sell out Ukraine, and we must not let him,” the Congressman said.
The Trump Administration has been attempting to negotiate an end to the war with the Kremlin but without Ukrainian officials present. Instead of an invitation to peace talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent served Ukraine with a $500 billion bar tab — payable in guarantees on Ukrainian mineral resources — to cover the cost of U.S. financial involvement in the war over the course of the last three years.
Ukraine’s president President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that deal was off the table, but it was not clear what kind of new arrangement was taking shape.
Auchincloss told the Herald that any peace talks that don’t include Ukrainian negotiators are a waste of time, and that it was up to Republicans in Congress to stand up to Trump and demand the U.S. stand by our allies. Asked if he thought that was happening, Auchincloss simply said, “no.”
