With The Times

With protesters repeatedly chanting “aid Ukraine end the war” and holding posters saying phrases such as “cancel Putin” or “help Ukraine beat the modern Hitler,” their mission became abundantly clear. Men, women, children and even dogs wore Ukraine flags to the Statehouse in hopes of making a difference in how the United States is assisting Ukrainian citizens.

While attending the protest early Thursday morning, nineteen-year-old Sasha Horokh, a first-year mathematics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, held a sign saying “Putin is the devil” with a rather powerful stance. As someone who has lived in Ukraine until Summer 2021 with family and friends living there, recent events have become an almost unbearable sight.

“It is so hard to be away from Ukraine when they’re having such a hard time over there. We couldn’t sleep at all after we heard this news, but speaking up at this protest is one of the things we can do,” Horokh said.

As she continued, her stance on the issue relates to how President Joe Biden is assisting Ukraine, saying Russia “doesn’t care at all” and other countries should not tolerate this behavior. With Russia’s constant battle for power through violence, President Biden’s executive actions must reflect on modern country relations. 

“All the sanctions created against Russia should be very strict, we need to take Russia’s resources and power so they don’t have the ability to keep killing people, like into dust. What’s going on right now…it’s awful, and unacceptable in the 21st century,” Horokh said.

While Horokh spoke, fellow protestors cheered her on saying “Putin hands off Ukraine” proudly in the background, some with red cheeks from the cold. As the protest contained many people in hopes of making a difference, two children who attended the protest with their Ukranian father waved their flags as pridefully as possible.

With pride, numerous protestors demanded justice for Ukrainian citizens amid the current crisis, and, more broadly, expressed anger at Vladimir Putin’s tyrannical decisions. Across the country, Ukrainian flags are being waved as a symbol that citizens will not rest without justice.

By the early afternoon, the crowd had doubled with protesters using megaphones and playing music with a sopilka, a Ukrainian flute, in hopes that their message would be heard. At approximately 5 a.m. the morning prior, missile attacks and bomb explosions in Kyiv were reported by the New York Times, with “fiery debris” scattered throughout the city.

Reportedly, Russia bombed many main military bases around Ukraine, sending ground troops to almost defeat any defense Ukraine has. As targeted towards men, USA Today reports that men ages 18 – 60 are banned from leaving Ukraine to fight against Russian forces.

As the enormous crowd of about 200 protestors stood in front of the statehouse gates, it seemed like they could have stayed for hours. The protestors stood there, screaming in Ukrainian for approximately four hours demanding justice for their country.

I also spoke with Ether Bezugla, 22, a fourth-year computer science major at MIT. As someone who has close relatives that live in Ukraine as well as Ukrainian parents, 

Bezugla attended the protest in hopes of making an impact on the current assistance that the U.S is providing. 

“I called my parents and then my grandparents, but as of right now I’m not optimistic. Russia is very big and conveniently controls all the oil supplies to Europe, so it’s not like they’re going to do anything about it NATO-wise,” Bezugla said.

Shortly after this protest, according to the White House Administration Biden has started to tighten country restrictions on Russia by banning imports of Russian oil, liquified natural gas and coal. According to ABC News, this decision will slowly affect Russia’s economy since oil and coal are both important resources needed by both the U.S and Russia, which is perhaps the only way to get Moscow to surrender.

However, according to CNN, Russia and Ukraine continue to fight this ongoing battle, with Russia denying any version of a cease fire. Currently, the situation does not seem to be improving despite the worldwide demand for peace between the two countries.