Manhattan is Scene of Spirited Protests Against Putin by Ukrainians

By: David Hess

“F**k Putin” and “I Heart Ukraine” were just two of the many handmade signs carried by protestors Thursday as they marched through Midtown Manhattan in an attempt to show both solidarity and love for Ukraine and their hatred for the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to The New York Times, “New York City is home to more than 150,000 Ukrainians, the largest such community in the country, with pockets in the East Village in Manhattan and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. There are scattered populations throughout the five boroughs, as well as in the suburbs”.

“Even though I’m not from Ukraine, I support them,” said Gerald McWilliams, 55, a messenger from the Bronx who applauded the demonstrators as they marched up Seventh Avenue. Just because the Russians got a bigger army doesn’t mean they can just come in and take over another country,” he told Corey Kilgannon, of The New York Times.

According to The New York Times report, “Leaders of the rally held up an enormous banner in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag as they headed to the Russian mission to the United Nations on the Upper East Side. There, they joined another spirited group and broke into the Ukrainian national anthem together, as some protesters wept and hugged. Others cloaked themselves in the Ukrainian flag and chanted in English and Ukrainian.”

New York City is the mirror of the world and even one of its great entertainment institutions, Saturday Night Live, showed support for Ukraine by inviting a local group of Ukrainian singers on the show. The Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York sang a traditional hymn, “A Prayer for Ukraine” as part of SNL’s cold opening, followed by Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong greeting viewers with the show’s traditional, “live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”. The camera panned out to focus on a table on which candles spelled out Kyiv surrounded by yellow sunflowers, the flower of Ukraine.

Elsewhere in New York City, restaurants are refusing to sell Russian vodka as a simple way to show encouragement and love for the Ukrainian peoples. A mixed-heritage Russian/Ukrainian couple in Queens found a creative way to support Ukraine. Oleg “Ollie” Sakhno and his wife, Olga, who own “the Keuka Kafe wine bar in Forest Hills, Queens, have put Ukrainian beer and wine on the menu, which they are selling to raise money to help the Ukrainian people” according to The New York Post. Every penny from the sales of the Ukrainian beverages will go to charitable groups helping the Ukrainian people,” Ollie said. Ollie and Olga may come from different countries, but they are United in their shared history as Jews who fled oppression and communism to build a beautiful life together in America.