UPDATE: 8:00 a.m. March 13, 2022
The following video was posted by organizers of the Kelowna Stands With Ukraine rally in Kelowna and Vernon on Saturday.
(Video credit: Kelowna Stands with Ukraine/YouTube/Facebook)
Original story March 11, 2022
The blue and yellow flags of Ukraine will be flying at Polson Park Saturday afternoon.
The group Kelowna Stands With Ukraine is planning a rally that will start at Kelowna City Hall at 2 p.m. before travelling to Vernon and setting up at Polson Park at 3 p.m.
Denys Storozhuk, President of the Kelowna Stands with Ukraine association, told Vernon Matters the rally is intended to protest the Russian invasion and to collect and send essential items to Ukrainians fighting on the front lines.
“We update our list [of needed items] every day because the requests coming from Ukraine change every day. We’re in contact with specific units both of the army and the territorial defence forces, so we have different requests every day and if we fulfill it then we have another request and so on,” said Storozhuk.
He said the list will be updated on the group’s Facebook page before the rally starts, though did add that any kind of tactical equipment would be welcome.
“Radios, walkie talkies, optical scopes, night vision devices and first aid medic kits, especially those that could be used to treat bullet wounds and shrapnel wounds.”
The group is also accepting monetary donations, which will be used to purchase the needed items.
Storozhuk, who was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, told Vernon Matters that they want to help equip those fighting for Ukraine, as there are already a lot of groups like the Red Cross and the Ukrainian Canadian Counsel providing humanitarian aid.
“What we believe in is if we lose this fight right now with Russian forces, there will be no need for humanitarian aid, because they will just occupy Ukraine, close the border and all this humanitarian aid that is being purchased and gathered may never reach the recipients,” said Storozhuk.
“So all our friends and relatives who are in Ukraine right now, they all say the same thing: ‘We have no problem with food or clothes as Ukraine is a big country, we have a problem with specific stuff because Ukrainian army suddenly grew multiple sizes in one day and they just don’t have enough equipment to save lives of the soldiers on the front lines.'”
The items collected through the rallies will be brought to Ukraine by volunteers going to fight against the Russian forces or by couriers.
Storozhuk adds that they will continue to try to collect equipment throughout the invasion, saying once the war ends they will transition to raising money and collecting items for humanitarian aid.
