More than 300 people gathered in front of the ferry building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero Sunday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war. Organizers said the large-scale show of support was as important as ever locally and overseas.
“The support is not as sharp as it was at the beginning of the war,” Dmytro Kushneruk with the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco said. “It’s incredibly important for us to remind San Francisco and California that the war is still going on.”
Dressed in yellow and blue, the Horbenko family showed up to the rally from San Ramon. The family is from Ukraine, including their 11-year-old dog named Rich, who was also donned in traditional Ukrainian clothing on Sunday.
“We just here to say thank you to the U.S. and please support us. Our nation is in danger,” Horbenko said.
Father of two Oleksander Horbenko is in contact with his father in Ukraine who, he says, needs this reminder that people are still paying attention.
“I was just talking to my father. It was a short conversation because no electricity, no heat, and he is hiding in a basement with no light, with no connection, with no water,” he said.
Four years into the Russia-Ukraine invasion, event organizers say they are glad the Bay Area’s recent storms did not stop to more than 300 people from gathering in San Francisco. Demonstrators marched from the ferry building to Pier 39.
“The videos form here and Washington DC, from Los Angeles, from Chicago, New York, there all will be shown in our television and they will see the world is still watching this,” Kushneruk said.