UKRAINIAN VILLAGE — Zoryana Smozhanyk was 10 when she moved with her family to Chicago from Ukraine, green cards in hand, to start a new life.
As Smozhanyk got older, entered military service and set down roots in the city, her fondest memories of her childhood in Ukraine — passing a yard teeming with chickens on her way to school, for instance — began to fade. She felt increasingly disconnected to her home country, she said.
When the pandemic hit, that feeling grew even stronger, Smozhanyk said.
“I didn’t really have that many Ukrainian connections left up to 2020,” she said.
Nearly four years later, things have shifted again for Smozhanyk. The 26-year-old has renewed her ties to her native country, dedicating herself to volunteer efforts in support of Ukraine, she said.
As the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, Smozhanyk and other members of Chicago’s Ukrainian community said they’re as determined as ever to ensure the war is not forgotten.
Chicago is home to one of the highest populations of Ukrainians in the United States, with 100,000 living in the city and suburbs and 10,000 in Ukrainian Village.
Since the onset of the war, more than 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have found a home in Chicago, with many choosing to settle in Ukrainian Village. The migration is part of a larger movement, as over 31 million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine since 2022, according to the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration.
Despite signs that support for the war may be waning for some, Ukrainians in Chicago with direct ties to their home country continue to call attention to the conflict and push for support through fundraisers, protests and rallies organized by the Consulate General of Ukraine in Chicago and nonprofits like the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Help Razom and Help Heros of Ukraine.
To mark the second anniversary of the war, the Illinois division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America is holding a Stand With Ukraine rally 4 p.m. Saturday at the Wrigley Building, 410 N. Michigan Ave.
“It’s hard enough to stay in the media spotlight for about a month, so it’s amazing that we survived several months, if not over a year, as the main headlines, main breaking news. That was great,” Smozhanyk said. “But now I definitely feel that we have to fight for it a lot more.”
After the war began, Smozhanyk began reconnecting with Chicago’s Ukrainian community, meeting immigrants who shared her desire to help friends and family back in their homeland, she said.
In 2022, Smozhanyk co-founded the nonprofit Ukrainian Daughters Foundation, which raises funds to send supplies such as first-aid kits, sleeping bags and money for ambulances to soldiers on the front lines.
Smozhanyk is in contact with family members in Ukraine, including uncles, cousins and an enlisted brother who is active in the war, she said.
Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Illinois Division and a family medicine physician, said it’s difficult to keep talking about the war to people with no ties to Ukraine out of fear of sounding like a broken record.
“Everyone is surprised that the war is still going on when I bring it up,” Dmytriv-Kapeniak said.
According to a 2023 Brookings poll gauging American sentiment toward the war, 46 percent of respondents said the United States should support Ukraine for one to two years, while 38 percent advocated for a commitment for as long as it takes.
Since October, newly committed aid to Ukraine has significantly decreased, marking a 90 percent drop compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Last week, the Senate approved an emergency spending package for military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The fate of the legislation rests with the Republican-led House.
“I’m very unhappy and worried about the fact that the bill for assistance to Ukraine and Israel has been bogged down for political reasons, electoral reasons,” said Maria Farion, vice president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Illinois Division. “They are willing to overlook that their decision affects the lives and deaths of so many people.
“However, I feel that from my experience of traveling throughout the United States and talking with everyone … I see that the American people want to do good. They want to help the people of Ukraine because the American people have a feel for justice and what is right.”
Dmytriv-Kapeniak, who moved from Ukraine to Chicago 20 years ago, shifted her focus in her medical practice to aiding Ukrainian refugees when the war began, she said.
At One Medical in Wicker Park, Dmytriv-Kapeniak helps newly settled family members of her current Ukrainian patients. She also works with the Illinois chapter of the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, helping translate medical documents, providing physical exams and assisting in caring for patients with chronic diseases.
Dmytriv-Kapeniak said helping other Ukrainians has made it more bearable to live through the conflict.
“It felt like helping family members,” she said.
Despite the uncertainties for Ukrainians in Chicago amid a distant war, Smozhanyk said she and her neighbors remain unwavering in their support and commitment to Ukraine.
“There’s been a lot of changes and everybody is exhausted, everybody is tired of [the war],” Smozhanyk said. “But nobody is giving up.”
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