For Daria Bogatova, wrapping her head around the four-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia is surreal.
“We couldn’t imagine — I personally couldn’t imagine — that something as huge as war in a European country....would last for as long as four years,” said Bogatova, a local Ukrainian who helped launched the nonprofit Mriya to help support people in Ukraine.
But four years after Russia launched that invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, local support for the Ukrainian cause remains strong. Even if the local Ukrainian community is, in Bogatova’s words, tired.
Vsevolod Petriv is president of the Boston branch of Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. He’s been active in showing local support for Ukraine ever since the invasion began. Thousands of Ukrainians have been lost in the fighting since then.
“I’m hearing from people over there, the troops are basically saying they ain’t gonna leave, even if somebody decides they’re supposed to leave, because of how many casualties and how much people have given up to hold that ground,” he said.
A big concern for members of the local Ukrainian community is how the United States’ support for Ukraine has changed over time. Supporters gathered in front of the State House in November to decry an initial U.S.-backed peace plan that would have included provisions that Ukraine gives up territory and agrees to never join NATO. That initial plan received significant pushback.
President Donald Trump had said before he was elected in 2024 that he could end the war in a single day. But fighting continues as the president heads into the second year of his second term.
“And to [Trump], getting a deal done means the fighting stops and he gets credit,” Petriv said. “But whether its a just end or a not just end, and what’s the fallout of the fighting stopping — that’s not something he’s concerned about.
In the meantime, the work of the local Ukrainian community continues. Demonstrators held a rally in support of Ukraine on Sunday. Bogatova said some gathered by the State House while others were in a convoy of vehicles with Ukrainian flags.
Bogatova wants to see a long-lasting, just peace for Ukraine. She was 15 when Russian forces took control of Crimea in 2014. She has never been able to experience her home country as an adult without war.
”Looking at that now, I think it’s crucial that next generation will not experience that,“ Bogatova said. ”Next generation has to live without war, for generations to come. We have to ensure that [the] aggressor never comes back. That they never invade again. That they will never have the power, the strength, that they will never have the ability to invade a peaceful country ever again. And that’s what’s crucial now.“
GBH’s Judie Yuill contributed to this story
