Manitobans stand up for Ukrainian solidarity

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This article was published 23/02/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a Ukrainian flag draped over his shoulders, Kiril Lukin listened as hundreds of voices sang his country’s national anthem on Sunday, marking the third anniversary since Russian forces invaded his home.

“A lot of my memory will be about my brother,” Kiril said, holding a picture of Nazanir Lukin, who died fighting for Ukraine about two years ago when he was just 24 years old.

“We grew up together. He was caring about me when my parents weren’t home.”

Kiril, 16, and his father Betro Lukin joined the large crowd who gathered at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights throughout the afternoon to display support for the embattled country.

He acted as an interpreter for Betro, a former Ukrainian soldier who — despite being unable to speak English — wanted to deliver a message to the Canadian public.

“My father said that history is repeating itself. During World War II, before it started, Nazi Germany acquired some land, and other countries didn’t do a lot about it,” Kiril said.

Betro, who wore military fatigues during the event, said he served in the army with Nazanir before he died. Betro then came to Canada around one year ago.

“My father said that countries should unite and help Ukraine,” Kiril said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, escalating a conflict that began in 2014.

The invasion has since become the largest and deadliest conflict to strike Europe since the Second World War, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties.

A message of Ukrainian unity, solidarity and defiance was carried by all those who spoke during the roughly two hour event, including representatives from all levels of government.

Premier Wab Kinew, who signed a formal proclamation declaring the Russian invasion a criminal act on Sunday, said the province will continue to do all it can to welcome Ukrainian refugees and provide support overseas.

The provincial government is working on partnerships with officials in Ukraine’s Kherson region to help rebuild its energy and agricultural sectors, he said.

“As the leader of the province of Manitoba, I view it as our team’s responsibility,” he told the crowd. “We are standing on the side of good, we are standing on the side of liberty and we are standing on the side of Ukraine.

The premier praised Austin Lathlin-Bercier, an Opaskywayak Cree Nation man who was the first known Manitoban to be killed in the war. He also acknowledged an unnamed security guard at the Manitoba Legislative Building, who Kinew said spent one year fighting against Russia.

“Manitobans, in a very real way, have given our blood, our sweat and our tears to support Ukraine’s war effort,” he said.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Manitoba since the war broke out and the need for support has never been greater, said Joanne Lewandowsky, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Manitoba council.

She called on the Canadian government to provide more military and economic aid to Ukraine.

“It’s the third anniversary. We all thought the war was going to stop two-and-a-half years ago and it hasn’t. It’s just a little aggravating when you listen to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (U.S. President Donald) Trump,” she told the Free Press.

Trump sparked outrage this week when he falsely claimed Ukraine was to blame for starting the conflict.

Further comments from Trump’s officials have signalled that any agreement to end the war would not include returning Ukraine to its 2014 borders that existed before Russia’s first invasion a decade ago, nor would the country be able to join NATO.

Canada has supported Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to be in Kyiv on Monday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and attend a summit on peace and security for Ukraine.

“Considering what’s going on with Trump, I am angry first of all. This is my biggest emotion,” said Ukrainian Oksana Burchak, who moved to Canada 12 years ago.

“For three years, everyone would understand who is the good side and who is the bad side. Right now, Trump saying Zelenskyy and Ukraine started the war is obviously wrong and it’s ridiculous.”

Burchak said her home city of Zaporizhzhia, located about 200 kilometres west of the Russian border, has suffered greatly during the war.

Her mother-in-law is currently visiting Winnipeg, but remains living full-time in Ukraine, where she works as a pediatrician.

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“She feels like they still need her, but her apartment building is almost at the edge of the city and gets constant bombing,” she said.

The church where her daughter was baptized was also destroyed in a bombing, Burchak said.

“The message is that Ukraine is not giving up,” Burchak said.

—With files from the Canadian Press

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.