Hundreds of Minnesotans rally in support of Ukraine and in protest of Russia's invasion

Hundreds of Minnesotans rallied at the steps of the state Capitol on Sunday in solidarity with Ukraine, which has been under Russian invasion for nearly two weeks.

Though the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag permeated the scene, the flag waved alongside others from Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, Puerto Rico, Georgia and Poland.

"The Ukrainian people together with their president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are writing the history of the world," said Yosyf Sabir, an activist with the Ukrainian American Community Center, which organized the event. "Decades from now they will be in textbooks and your great-great-grandchildren will be asking you, 'Where were you when this was happening?' And you'll be able to look them in the eyes and say, 'I was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people.'"

Several speakers joined the community center in solidarity, including from the consulates of Sweden, Germany and Canada.

Luda Anastazievsky, chair of the Minnesota Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee called on the state Legislature to divest from funds that might benefit Russia, similar to Gov. Tim Walz's March 4 executive order requiring state agencies to suspend contracts with Russian entities.

Walz, who attended Sunday's rally, urged other U.S. leaders to do the same.

"To our Ukrainian Minnesota communities, you are woven into the fabric of this state," he said. "Without Ukrainian Minnesotans there is no Minnesota, and today, we are all Ukrainians."

"We need to, across this nation, as we did in Minnesota, divest from any Russian contracts," he added. "Vladimir Putin has made his choice, we'll make ours: We stand with Ukraine."

According to the Ukrainian American Community Center, some 17,000 Ukrainians reside in Minnesota. That number includes recent immigrants and third-generation Ukrainian Americans.

Anna Nolan, who emigrated from Lviv, Ukraine, 23 years ago, looked over the crowd gathered on the Capitol steps and was filled with pride. It was the first time since the invasion that she and her 11-year-old daughter had ventured out for a Ukrainian-solidarity demonstration.

"It it feels so powerful to see that other nations support us as well and come here in this freezing weather to support all Ukrainians," she said, a Ukrainian flag draped over her shoulders.

She and her daughter held up two signs they had made together, both with phrases written over the country's flag: "Shelter our sky" and "Stop bombing Ukraine."

"I want her to learn that Ukraine is an independent country and nothing, nothing will stop Ukrainians," Nolan said of her daughter.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is of Ukrainian Jewish heritage, said he knows of the resilience of the Ukrainian people because of his own family's history. He said the stories his grandmother has told him of ancestors standing in solidarity with neighbors throughout the Holocaust and pogroms inspire him to resist anything similar ever happening again.

"When a sovereign nation is threatened, each and every one of us stands up, fights back and does right by humanity and peace in this world," he said. "We cannot stand idly by; we all must do our parts."

As retired school teacher Keith Mayer walked on the edges of the crowd, taking in the view before him, he grew emotional thinking about the impact of Russia's attack on the Ukrainian people. Mayer, 70, is not of Ukrainian heritage but throughout his career spent several summers teaching English there and supporting Ukrainian faith groups.

When he speaks to his Ukraine-based friends, he said they express their plan to stay and provide aid rather than flee. "They're strong in faith but they're also strong in their hearts to care for their country and one another."