Organizations in support of Ukraine — including Ukrainian San Antonio, Klych, and Consulate General of Ukraine in Houston — held a rally and a vigil on Thursday evening to mark one year since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mayor Ron Niremburg and District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia attended the event.
Olenka Bravo came to the United States in 2011 and is on the board of directors for the organization Klych, which works to create large-scale events and rallies that are in support of Ukraine. She last visited her home country of Ukraine in 2021.
Bravo said that they were holding rallies before the invasion because of reports that Russian troops were getting closer to the Ukrainian border.
“The war in Ukraine has been going on for nine years. But the full-scale invasion just happened one year ago,” she said.
According to Bravo, around 10:00 p.m. on Feb. 23, 2022, she got a call from her crying friend in the Ukraine about hearing loud noises. After receiving this call, Bravo tried getting in contact with her family.
A few days later, she was informed that an attack had occurred on her mother’s street. It was impossible to contact her for a few hours because of the lack of electricity. Later, it was confirmed that her mother was safe. Her immediate family, including her parents, and close friends are still in Ukraine.
“I remember it was three or four days after the war started, they shoot the first high rise building next to my mom. It was like five minutes walking from my mom. It made me devastated,” said Bravo.
Bravo’s organization Klych created a 365 day photo calendar that it turned into posters to remember each day of the Ukrainian war.
“We want to remember people who are defending our frontlines,” she said. “We want to remember people who are not with us anymore because of the war, civilians, military guys, everybody.”
Many of the event attendees were refugees from Ukraine, who Bravo said were unprepared to live in the United States.
“They don’t speak the language. They don’t drive because it wasn’t their intention, it wasn’t their dream to come here. They were not prepared,” said Bravo.
One of these refugees in attendance was Maria Shvetsova, who fled Ukraine with her daughter. She has lived in San Antonio since May of last year.
“I remember that morning very well. I had to take my daughter to kindergarten. We all had plans but everything stopped in one moment. All the phones would ring. The war had begun. We will never be able to forget this and the feeling of confusion. We will never be the same as we were on February 23, 2022, but we must be different,” Shvetsova said.
Olenka Bravo’s son Albert was also at the rally. He held a 365 Day poster and recounted a favorite memory with his grandmother in Ukraine.
“She always took me out to the playground so that if there were any friends there I could make new friends, stuff like that,” he said.
Albert added that he thought his Ukrainian culture was cool because it was colorful and unique. He also had a few words for other Ukrainian kids who may be struggling with processing the war.
“Keep your head up and just hope that it’s gonna end one day,” he said.
Bravo added that she wanted to thank Americans for supporting Ukraine.
“We want to tell them thank you for standing with us,” she said. “Thank you for helping. And please keep in mind the war unfortunately isn’t over, and we are asking today for Americans, for regular citizens, for the government representatives to continue standing with us because we do not know when it’s gonna be over.”
