Women, children lead silent protest against Russia

CHICAGO — Ukrainian American women and children gathered in downtown Chicago Sunday to protest to ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Members of the protest wore Ukraine’s national colors and locked hands with their mouths taped shut to form a human chain that started at the Water Tower and extended down Michigan Avenue as far as Randolph Street near Millennium Park.

Participants hope the demonstration helped advocate for Russia to be named a terrorist state by the United States government.

“People were living great lives,” said Veronika Tyshchenko, one of the demonstrators at the protest. “Teaching, studying, working hard and then all of a sudden Russia invaded Ukraine and decided to destroy the country.”

Russia’s campaign started in late February and over the last seven months, has caused plenty of devastation and suffering, but demonstrators said that won’t stop them from continuing to bring awareness to what is going on in Ukraine.

“We have our brave soldiers who are doing this for us, so we’re trying to do as much as we can here,” said Vera Eliashevsky. “We’re asking for more weapons because if it’s not going to be stopping in Ukraine, it can come [to] any country.”