Hundreds of people gathered at University Place in Chapel Hill to celebrate Ukrainian Independence Day on Aug. 24. The festival was hosted by the Ukrainian Association of North Carolina, and featured performances of traditional songs and dances along with dozens of vendors selling crafts such as art, jewelry, books and foods.
Oleh Wolowyna, a director of the UANC who is also a fellow of the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Slavic, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies, said the local Ukrainian community in the Triangle area has swelled as many people have fled the country recently.
“There are a lot of people that have come from Ukraine in the last two years since the invasion,” he said. “So the number of Ukrainians in North Carolina has increased significantly.”
Maryna Kapustina, the president of the UANC, said attendance at events such as the Independence Day festival has visibly increased during the war Ukraine is fighting against Russia, which started when Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
“Even those who were living here for a long time,” she said, “they didn’t come up to events, they didn’t feel they were maybe proud that they’re Ukrainian, and now they want to come and be together.”
She mentioned specifically that the war is motivating the community to rally around each other and mobilize.
“Of course, war is a huge stimulus to do something, to help somehow,” Kapustina said.
Many of the vendors were raising funds to support the war effort. Natalya Vasylenko, who was selling works of Ukrainian artists to fundraise for delivering tourniquets to the front lines, highlighted what she sees as the importance of the growing Ukrainian diaspora continuing to support their country.
“It is normal for people to organize more in tough times,” she said. “For a lot of Ukrainians, I believe it is an identity search thing. And in celebrating Independence Day and getting together, eating food, getting the crafts and stuff, they feel more connected to that, especially abroad.”
Volda Zadorozhna, who was selling jewelry to raise funds for supplies for the soldiers, was among several people there who said they feel encouraged and energized by Ukraine’s recent incursion into the Russian oblast of Kursk, which started on Aug. 6 and marks the first time in this war that fighting has happened in Russian territory.
“I believe that it’s getting better, because our soldiers are doing incredible things,” Zadorozhna said. “They put the war on their territory. And it’s logical, because not only Ukrainian people should suffer.”
As some people in the Ukrainian-American community are concerned that the war has taken a backseat in American consciousness, Wolowyna, who is a scholar of Ukrainian history, discussed why he thinks Americans should be paying more attention.
“Ukraine is not only fighting for its life, Ukraine is fighting to defend the democratic system that was set up after the Second World War. Ukraine is defending Europe and eventually defending the United States,” he said. “Because if Putin takes over Ukraine, he will invade the Baltic Republics, he will invade Poland, he will invade Finland, and those are NATO countries that the United States has the responsibility to defend.”
The local Ukrainian community now looks ahead to UkraineFest, hosted by the organization Ukrainians in the Carolinas. It will take place in Reidsville on Sept. 28.
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