Anniversary of Invasion
Stand with Ukraine Foundation’s rally leans heavily on aid requests
Alex Denysov knew Russia was going to invade his home country before it happened. On the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, he led the protest in front of Los Angeles City Hall to demand increased support for his besieged home.
Denysov, a native Crimean, watched his home be taken by a foreign power a decade ago and vowed to do everything he could to prevent it from happening again. In January 2022, he helped found the Stand With Ukraine Foundation just weeks before the conflict in Ukraine began, hoping to send humanitarian and military aid back home. Denysov now works as Head of the foundation’s Activism Department.
To begin the rally, two motorcades of decorated cars traveled simultaneously down Wilshire Blvd. and Sunset Blvd., joining together to form the bulk of the crowd. Denysov then kicked off the next phase of the event as the crowd filtered closer to his podium.
Denysov’s speech decried not just Russia’s acts of military aggression but also the destruction of the Ukrainian way of life. “They’ve been destroying Ukrainian culture for centuries. More importantly, [in] the last ten years they took away my Crimea,” Denysov said.
Denysov believes that the most significant way to help the citizens in Ukraine is to provide arms and armor to the soldiers at the front.
“Right now, we’re getting less and less support, less weaponry,” Denysov said. “How is that possible? How are we repeating the same mistakes?” Denysov also called for people to send letters to their representatives to approve a new bill to provide that support to Ukraine.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, $75 billion of financial aid has gone to Ukraine from the United States alone over the last two years. But according to the October 2023 Associated Press-National Opinion Research Center Center Poll, as the war has dragged on, only 45% of Americans still support sending money and resources to Ukraine.
On Feb. 13, the Senate passed a bill that would provide over $60 billion to Ukraine, but that bill is waiting on a vote in the House of Representatives. It’s still undecided when that vote will take place.
Denysov lamented the loss of attention and revenue that he and other organizations had at the beginning of the Russian invasion. He shared that support for Ukraine started to drop off as early as a few months after the initial invasion. “For people, it’s like a show. It’s fun, and it’s kinda entertaining, and it’s kind of unusual for now, but then everyone gets used to it,” the activist said.
Denysov shared that he hopes to see a massive resurgence in public demand for aid to Ukraine, forcing politicians around the world to send any and every kind of military support. “The faster it’s done, the faster this war is over, the less people are dying and suffering, and the sooner freedom, democracy, and just world order is restored.”
Paul Krekorian, the President of the Los Angeles City Council, also took the stage during Saturday’s protest. Krekorian introduced himself as the first Armenian member of the City Council and pledged his support to the cause of Stand With Ukraine. “The Ukrainian people have stood up to [Russian] aggression, and the rest of the world draws inspiration,” the councilman said.
Krekorian’s Armenian heritage was cited as another point of why to defend Ukraine from Russia. The Armenian Genocide, a key moment in history that directly inspired both the term genocide and the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, was a major component of Krekorian’s speech.
In his final thoughts, Krekorian looked over the crowd and said, “Wherever we fail to stand up against genocide, we are inviting the next genocide.”