Colorado representatives gather outside the U.S. Capital for the Ukraine Action Summit (Courtesy Katya Grizak, CU Ukrainian Club member)
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Ukrainian club returned from the Ukraine Action Summit in Washington D.C. this past week. You probably didn’t know we have a CU Ukrainian club, but now you do.
Ukrainian-American students Kirilo Pereklita, Katya Grizak and I are members of the CU Ukrainian club. The Ukrainians of Colorado invited us to attend the Ukraine Action Summit in D.C. This summit is a community event for Ukrainian organizations to network, exchange advocacy practices and promote Ukrainian support to our elected officials.
We arrived Saturday, the 27 and were hosted on the rooftop of the Royal Sonesta near the Capitol. The weekend was a networking and speaker conference for all the organizations. Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., was the keynote speaker for the weekend. During the Advocating for the Vulnerable panel, Ambassador Markarova’s speech prepared us for congressional meetings.
She advised us to “be very loud [and] be very bi-partisan,” emphasizing that “the issue of Ukraine is not Democratic or Republican, it is American.” The advice from the panel was to tell our story, be precise and concise, stay focused on Ukraine and thank our representatives.
So what exactly were we advocating for?
The war in Ukraine has been ravaging for two years. Although its coverage has lessened in the media, the fighting is still ongoing. The situation on the frontline is dire. Soldiers’ munitions and aid are dwindling. Their will is resilient, but their capability is depleted. December 2022 was the last time U.S. aid was sent to Ukraine via the H.R. 2617 aid bill. Our goal was twofold: gain enough signatures for Discharge Petition 9, which brings the existing aid bill directly to the House for voting, and convince Representatives to vote yes.
Delegations from 47 states met with their state representatives and senators to push this legislation forward. Our Colorado delegation met with Senator Bennet, Representatives Crow and Pettersen and the offices of Senator Hickenlooper, Representatives DeGette, Neguse, Caraveo and Lambourn. Altogether, our Colorado representatives were Razom which is the Ukrainian word for together as well as the name of the organization that coordinated the summit. Unfortunately, our delegation couldn’t schedule a meeting with Representative Boebert’s scheduler, although there wasn’t much dismay about this due to her known opposition to sending additional aid (i.e., she was not razom.)
The sense of togetherness was electric and gratifying. Every person I met knew how dire the situation on the frontline was. Aid was needed two weeks ago. We all understood that as each day passes without assistance from the US, a soldier is more likely to be killed, a city is more likely to be destroyed and Ukraine is more likely to lose. Every person I met felt like someone I had known for years. We already knew something very sacred about the other person. A common goal that had been set by a shared experience of pain and love. The pain of a force that only seeks your extinction, and the love to cherish that which has not yet been destroyed.
We took a moment between events to sightsee. We visited the cherry blossoms by the Jefferson Memorial and walked the Mall. After a while, we decided what to do next; continue sightseeing or return to the summit.
Pereklita said the quiet part out loud, “I just want to talk with my Ukrainians.” We all agreed: Sightseeing was not as rewarding as being together with our community and shared goal. We could admire history, or witness it now.
On Monday evening, Speaker Johnson announced a new bill. Instead of the original bill that included aid to Ukraine and other U.S. defense obligations, Johnson divided it into four separate bills. The issue of Ukraine would be voted on separately from Israel and the Indo-Pacific. It was a pleasant surprise. We did not think the bill would be brought back. To this point, Discharge Petition 9 was unnecessary because the bill was on the floor. All we needed were enough yes votes. And on Saturday the 19th, H.R.8035 was agreed to with a 316 yes vote to a 94 opposing vote in the House. Mission complete.
Ukrainian Club members standing among state and national representatives in the house (Courtesy of Katya Grizak)
A sigh of relief and a moment to hope for peace.
How much of a role did we, as a few individuals from the CU Boulder Ukrainian Club, play in getting this bill passed in the House? I don’t know. And honestly, I don’t care.
“It was such a powerful moment when we were standing together on the steps of the Capitol and I felt like I was a part of something bigger and greater than myself,” Grizak said.
In my meeting with Senator Bennet, he listened attentively, especially when I made comparisons to Stalinist repression in the USSR and Putin. I was extremely gratified to hear from him that, “[He was] glad [to] have somebody studying this.”
Grizak and Pereklita also received affirmative responses from Senator Hickenlooper’s office and Representative Petersen, who wore the scarf we gifted her on the House floor. Our role was to reaffirm to our representatives that Ukraine matters, to the U.S. and the world. We did that. I gained tremendous hope from this experience. Hope is what keeps democracies alive. Who knows whether our being there changed the outcome? It is about being Razom. It is a fact that 500 representatives from 47 states showed up. It is a fact that we care. We want peace, stability, and love and I am absolutely sure of one thing: if there were no one to care, then the outcome would have been entirely different.
This club is in the process of being organized by a group of students at CU, if you’re interested in joining you can find us via our Instagram.
Contact CU Independent Guest Writer Maxim Tkachenko at maxim.tkacenko@colorado.edu
