As tens of thousands of people flee Ukraine in the wake of a Russian invasion, a group of people in Toronto rallied outside of the U.S. consulate calling for more support.
A march is scheduled for Sunday at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto, but one of the co-organizers said that a group of about 100 people decided to gather a day earlier because “tomorrow may be late.”
“We need Canadians to see whatxjmtzyw is happening,” Svitlana Nechyporenko, the co-founder of Second Front: Toronto, told CP24. “We need to attract attention. We need people watching the news.”
“We’re all going through our personal hell right now. None of us have slept since Wednesday.”
In the early morning on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military operation, sending troops towards Ukraine’s capital. According to U.S. officials, more than 250 missiles have been launched at Ukrainian targets.
As of Saturday, nearly 120,000 people have fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighbouring countries in an attempt to escape the invasion.
Canada, along with the United States and other European allies, have issued numerous financial sanctions over the invasion. The U.S. has also announced a $350-million package of additional military assistance.
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Speaking on Saturday, Nechyporenko said the rally is meant to spread awareness of what is happening and encourage governments to get more involved.
“We’re asking for weapons. We’re asking for funding. We’re asking for physical bodies to go into Ukraine and helping fight this because Ukrainians are strong, but there’s way more Russian troops than Ukrainians.”
Nechyporenko went on to say that people are sleeping in rotations so that someone is constantly monitoring social media and news reports from the region—so that if there is a significant development someone is available to reach out to family members and tell them to run.
“We are barely standing,” she said. “Many of us have not eaten because we just don’t have time for that.”
“We’re focused on saving our relatives’ lives.”
The group hopes to move to the Russian consulate Saturday afternoon.
