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As war looms, local Ukrainians show support for family back home

A vehicle adorned with American and Ukrainian flags prepares to drive from Jamaica Plain to Back Bay in a motorcade rally Sunday in solidarity with friends and family back home, as the threat of war with Russia intensifies. (Walter Wuthmann/WBUR)
A vehicle adorned with American and Ukrainian flags prepares to drive from Jamaica Plain to Back Bay in a motorcade rally Sunday in solidarity with friends and family back home, as the threat of war with Russia intensifies. (Walter Wuthmann/WBUR)

Local Ukrainians over the weekend showed their solidarity with friends and family back home as the threat of war with Russia intensifies.

The current tensions on Ukraine's border come on the eighth anniversary of the Maidan massacre — when pro-Russian forces killed more than a hundred protestors on Kyiv's Independence Square.

Father Roman Tarnavsky of St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Jamaica Plain said his church's annual memorial service felt especially relevant this year.

"This is a scary time. A very difficult time," Tarnavsky said. "I cannot imagine in the 21st century, this is happening."

Tarnavsky said Ukraine serves as a barrier between Russia and the rest of Europe.

"If Russia will attack Ukraine, it's my opinion, it will attack all Europe," he noted.

Tarnavsky said he prays for an end to the cycle of violence.

Down the road in the parking lot of a Catholic church, dozens of people draped blue and yellow Ukrainian flags over their cars as they prepared to drive from Jamaica Plain to Back Bay in a motorcade rally.

"I've lived in Boston for 26 years, it's home now, but my soul is in Ukraine," said Olena McHugh of West Roxbury. "It's my motherland, always will be."

She said she fears Russia will soon invade Ukraine, but still hopes for a peaceful resolution.

"It's like a war between sisters or brothers," McHugh said. "It's shameful, it's painful."

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Walter Wuthmann State Politics Reporter
Walter Wuthmann is a state politics reporter for WBUR.

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