SEATTLE — Friday will mark one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and many in the Ukrainian American community are reflecting on what this past year has been like for their family and friends overseas as well as in western Washington.
"Probably one of the hardest years of our lives," said Oksana Bilobran a volunteer for Washington’s oldest Ukrainian American organization, Ukrainian Association of Washington State (UAWS). Since 1971, this non-profit has been working to preserve the Ukrainian culture and has helped thousands of Ukrainian immigrants build new lives here in Washington.
“Doing all we can to help Ukraine by volunteering, doing fundraisers, doing political advocacy, raising awareness about events in Ukraine," said Bilobran.
She's been in Seattle for about 20 years but said she still has family and friends living in Ukraine today. Bilobran said it's heartbreaking hearing the struggles her loved ones are encountering.
"Took lives of so many of our countrymen and destroyed so many lives, infrastructure, hopes and dreams," Bilobran said.
She said she's especially concerned for her friends who have volunteered to fight on the frontlines. She has invited them to stay with her in Seattle, but they're adamant they need to defend their homeland.
"Replied back by saying we are staying. We are more needed here. And that to me, that message of we're not going to give up just gave me all the strength I needed to also not give up," said Bilobran.
This Saturday UAWS will host a rally like the event it held last year. It will be from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the mural amphitheater at the Seattle Center.