MIAMI (WSVN) - Hundreds of people filled Bayfront Park in downtown Miami to demand an end to the war in Ukraine.
7News cameras captured a sea of blue and yellow at the venue, Saturday afternoon, as demonstrators held up signs and draped themselves in the Ukrainian flag.
“We’re trying to shine a light on what’s going on in Ukraine right now for America,” said a demonstrator who identified himself as Dimitry.
Dimitry underscored the urgency of the situation.
“It’s not just a small conflict. They’re trying to erase us as a nation,” he said.
Also in attendance at the rally was Victoria Lozovska. She said her elderly mother is still in Ukraine, and it has not been easy for her.
“My mom, actually, has been hiding in a basement of some building for seven days straight,” she said. “I was calling her, and I did not know what to tell her. I did not know how to comfort her. I couldn’t tell her everything was going to be OK.”
Lozovska said her mother been able to escape the war zone and is doing her best to get to nearby Poland for safety, but that’s proving to be difficult.
“Unfortunately, she doesn’t speak any other languages besides Ukrainian and Russian, and she doesn’t know how to use the internet, so she doesn’t have a way to reach me,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s a one-way communication, so I’m praying to God every day that we keep the cell service up so I can call her and check on her and see where she is.”
With heartrending images of people crammed into a hospital seeking shelter, Lozovska and many others are hoping the U.S. and other world leaders can do more to help protect her country.
“We are asking and urging them to take more strict actions against Putin’s regime. We are asking to close the sky and to give Ukraine air protection,” said Lozovska.
Among the local leaders who attended the rally at Bayfront Park were City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
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