Between poetry, heavy speeches and traditional music, silence was loudest at a vigil marking the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Hosted in front of the UBC bookstore on Tuesday by the UBC Ukrainian Student Union (USU), the Ukrainian Roots Podcast and YVR Screen Scene, the vigil followed a screening of the documentary Children in the Fire. The film — which narrates the experience of Ukrainian minors affected by the conflict — was shown by the USU inside the Nest.
Now entering its fifth year, the invasion has killed or injured an estimated 1.8 million military personnel, and nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory has fallen under Russian occupation. Amid 15,000 civilian deaths, 5.9 million people have fled the country — 300,000 of which came to Canada under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) visa since the start of the war.
On the day of the vigil, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement calling the Russian invasion “unjustifiable,” and stressed Canada’s “steadfast” support of Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s fight is our fight, their struggle is our cause, and their independence will be our victory,” he wrote.
USU President Sasha Pobochii told The Ubyssey the student union picked the film to spotlight allegations of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
“A lot of people undermine the fact that Russia is committing genocide against Ukrainians, and there's many aspects of genocide, but one of them is abducting children, and Russia has abducted over 20,000 children.”
In November, the organization Genocide Watch concluded that Russia “systematically [commits] widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes, and acts of genocide.”
Ukrainian filmmaker Khrystyna Syvolap told The Ubyssey that she believes film can convey information that social media posts and news reports fail to give, especially in times of extreme anguish.
Pobochii said there has been a decline in attention given to the war and in solidarity with Ukrainian students at UBC. “Often I get asked, is the war still going?” She said that the vigil is part of an effort to spread awareness and provide support to Ukrainian students, bringing “Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians together.”
Pobochii said she was concerned about UBC’s 2023 decision to end the policy that granted domestic tuition rates to CUAET visa holders — a sentiment echoed by PhD candidate Tetiana Poliakova, another vigil attendee. “It's so tough, because I know of a lot of Ukrainian students that are facing a lot of financial hardships,” Poliakova said. “[The Ukrainian economy] is nearly not in the place where it used to be before the full scale invasion started.”
On Feb. 23, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko estimated reconstruction and recovery costs would reach nearly $200 billion USD, three times as large as Ukraine’s estimated nominal GDP for 2025.
The vigil began after sundown, with attendance rising throughout the event and peaking at about 65. Sabrina Rani Furminger — the Canadian-Ukrainian host of the Ukrainian Roots Podcast — began the event with a land acknowledgment, followed by an interpretation of Ukraine’s National Anthem by Canadian-Ukrainian filmmaker Olesia Shewchuk.
After Shewchuk’s performance, Iryna Shyroka, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in B.C., delivered a speech where she expressed her gratitude to Canada and Canadians at large for their support of Ukrainians and the Ukraine defence effort. She also spoke to Ukrainians' resistance and valour.
“We did not choose this war, but we have chosen courage. We did not choose destruction, but we've chosen resilience. We did not choose sacrifice, but we've chosen dignity,” she said.
Syvolap read some poems by Haska Shiyan and Victoria Amelina, and shared some words of sorrow for her family member, Vasil Syvolap, who was killed in combat near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in 2022. “He is forever 32. Glory to the heroes.”
After Syvolap, Liliia Ratushna, a co-organizer with UA Rally — an organization carrying out weekly demonstrations in Vancouver supporting Ukraine’s war effort — delivered a speech where she called for solidarity with Ukrainian soldiers and thanked Canadians for their support.
Not all at the vigil were Ukrainian. Third-year interdisciplinary studies student Jimmy Zhao, who was born in China, said he was there in solidarity with students due to his own experience with oppressive regimes. “As an individual, you don’t have the ability to choose a country, to be born in, and to be raised in. But you can choose the people to hang around and choose the people who also like freedom and safety.”
Ivan Palka, representing RIY Vancouver — a non-profit that collects contributions for the Ukrainian military — told the crowd that the vigil was not just a memorial to those killed, but also a symbol of hope that the war will end and Ukraine will prevail.
“Russia wants to break Ukraine,” he said. “But Ukraine [is] still standing, our people [are] still fighting. Our culture is alive. Our language is alive. Our spirit is alive.”
Between poetry readings and more performances of traditional Ukrainian war songs by Shewchuk, Pobochii spoke about disputing what she says are Russian talking points.
“Russia claims that Ukrainians don't deserve to have their own country. It's not true. We've existed before Russia. Russia was built on colonialism in Eastern Europe and in Central Asia, and the reason Russia invaded was not because of NATO,” Pobochii told the crowd.
Pobochii also called out the academic community claiming that, often, support for Ukraine is nominal. “We say we support Ukraine, but what does it really mean to support Ukraine?”
What followed was four minutes of silence, one for every year since the start of the invasion.
People from the audience were given the chance to speak, more poetry was read and, for the last time that night, Furminger addressed the crowd.
“Ukraine is, Ukraine was, Ukraine will always be, because of our Ukrainian roots. Через наше українське коріння, because of the ancient culture that sings in our blood, because of Ukrainians.”
