Ukrainian mayors visit Stanislaus amid Russian invasion. ‘So many people perishing’
Four mayors from Ukraine pleaded for continued support against the Russian invasion during a visit to Stanislaus County.
The tour neared its end with a Thursday afternoon panel at Stanislaus State University. Bohdan Kvachuk, who heads the village council for Zarichne, spoke in Ukrainian through an English interpreter:
“We have had beautiful villages, beautiful cities, absolutely stunning landscape, absolutely stunning nature, that have been taken, bombed, mined, cut into pieces and destroyed by the enemy, with so many people perishing.”
The visit came 14 months into a war that has killed an estimated 24,000 Ukrainians, about a third of them civilians, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The mayors are taking part in the federal Open World Leadership Program. It supports people in nations that once were part of the Soviet Union.
The visitors were hosted by Modesto Sister Cities International, which does exchanges with six locales around the world. One of them is Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine, but its mayor was not part of the delegation.
The mayors also discussed city governance, sustainable energy and other non-war topics. They visited city halls in Modesto and Waterford, as well as Waterford High School. They attended a Modesto Rotary Club meeting and finished up with a reception at the McHenry Museum.
“They had lots of questions about how a California city functions,” Modesto spokesman Andrew Gonzales said. “They were very inquisitive.”
Radio interview Saturday
Councilman Chris Ricci interviewed the mayors at Redeemer Church for his radio show, “Better Modesto.” It will be broadcast Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. on KFIV 1360 AM.
All four mayors spoke at Stan State through interpreter Alexander Krainiy, based in Sacramento.
Zarichne is in the northwest, away from most of the violence but on guard against neighboring Belarus, a Russian ally.
Roman Voluiko leads Haivoron, a city in central Ukraine that has taken in refugees from other areas. He told of frequent air-raid warnings:
“I never thought that my child would hide in bomb shelters. Just imagine the 3- to 5-year-olds that have been told, ‘You have to go to the basement because we might get bombed.’”
44 dead in one city
Raids have killed 44 civilians in the southeastern city of Huliaipole, Mayor Serhii Yarmak said. Many other residents have fled, leaving only about 3,000 of the 20,000 before the war.
“We have been working ever since, hard, to make sure that the victory comes, and it comes soon,” Yarmak said.
The delegation also included Serhii Karpuk, mayor of Shatsk in northwest Ukraine.
The panel was facilitated by Roman Oleksenko of Open World, who is fluent in both languages. He said Ukraine appreciates the NATO support so far, but more is needed to win the war and rebuild.
Oleksenko said Russia must give up Crimea, which it invaded in 2014. And it must free all Ukrainian prisoners of war, as well as women and children deported during the conflict.
“We’re on the front lines,” Oleksenko said. “We have no other choice. We have no other country.”
Modesto Bee staff writer Kevin Valine contributed to this report.
