Triangle Ukrainian community marks 2 years since Russian invasion
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Today marks exactly 2 years since Russian troops invaded Ukraine, sparking a war many didn't think would still be going on.
Now, Ukrainians right here in the Triangle are hoping people don't forget their cause.
Hundreds rallied in front of the State Capitol in Raleigh for a vigil to show their support for Ukraine and to advocate for the U.S. to continue its aid.
Among them was Olga Fedorychev from Wake Forest. She said two years later, she has had to juggle raising a family and work while worrying about relatives back in Ukraine.
"We just manage and we just function and we learn how in these two years to be sad, then mad, then sarcastic, then proactive. You do something you support, you help, volunteer," she said.
Fedorychev lives with her husband and son in North Carolina, but her extended family is still in Dnipro, and she has friends serving on the front line.
From thousands of miles away, she still gets a pit in her stomach seeing the alerts pop up on her phone.
"Missiles fly all the time and it could be in your state, it could be towards your town," Fedorychev said.
She does what she can from across the globe. Having already been established in North Carolina, she's stepped up to help refugees get settled in.
Fedorychev also managed to make a few trips back as the war wages on, stuffing her luggage with much-needed supplies.
"One suitcase is what is it 50 pounds so think how many tourniquets you could fit in. Well, I'll tell you, it's 80 and it's not even the full suitcase. And each of those tourniquets is somebody's life," she said.
And it's those lives that Fedorychev and others are willing to fight for.
"It's not like we can choose not to fight. We're not gonna be the country that will be like, you know, what we're gonna stand back, you guys fight. We hold our front line, and we hold our country," she said.
There have been at least 1,000 refugees coming to the Triangle since the beginning of the war. They're also urging the U.S. government to continue its aid to Ukraine as funding continues to be debated in Congress.
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