RENTON, Wash. — Ukrainians and Russians in western Washington continue to speak out against a war that’s now on its fifth day.
In Renton, under cover from pounding rain, a group of Ukrainian Americans gathered to pray for peace.
“The places where you visited with your family are being just so brutally destroyed, heartlessly. People are being killed, everything is ruined,” said Albina Terpetska, a Ukrainian living in western Washington.
“It’s horrible, it’s terrifying, and I really hope that it will end soon,” she continued.
Ukrainian soldiers are holding off a Russian invasion as protests erupt around the world. In Russia, thousands risk imprisonment for speaking out against a war they do not support.
“When some people hear ‘Russian’ they already picture a bad guy…” said Anna, a Russian-born woman living in Washington state who did not want to use her full name. “Now I’m afraid it’s going to be even worse.”
Anna fears Russian people will suffer consequences from an invasion that surprised them as much as the world.
“Russian people want peace; we don’t want war,” Anna said. “We are people, just like you. We just happen to be in this situation and we disagree with that, but we can’t do anything about it.”
In Anacortes, so many people commented about a small Russian flag flying on city property the mayor of the town felt compiled to address the issue. During a council meeting, Anacortes Mayor Matt Miller said the flag is flying because of a three-decade sister city program with a town in Russia.
“I won’t preside on a model UN debate at a city council meeting on geopolitics,” Miller said. “If our federal government, hopefully, advised by our federal politicians and diplomats want to sever all ties with Russia, I will act accordingly.”
Anti-war protesters made it clear there is only one enemy in this fight.
“This isn’t war between Russian and Ukraine, if we can make this clear. This is a war between Putin and Ukraine,” said Ukrainian America Kristina Soltys.
Soltys is also a council member for the City of Covington.