Dozens gather in Summit County to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO) - As the Russian-Ukrainian war rages on overseas, dozens of people in Northeast Ohio came together to call for an end to the violence on Friday evening.

Lisa Malanij’s grandparents came to Ohio from Ukraine during World War II.

She says what’s happening now is so traumatic for her family because they’ve already lived through a Russian invasion once.

“My grandmother, she was taken from her house at 16 when the Russians went to Ukraine first, and then my Dido was on the run because they were hunting down all the learned scholars,” Malanij said.

The event was organized by the Akron Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and held outside the Highland Square Branch of the Summit County Library. It was all about promoting peace worldwide.

“I hate it,” said Malanij. “We all hate it but for me, I have anxiety. I’ve been having nightmares and stuff, it’s really hard to go to bed. I don’t like it and I want it to be over as peaceful as it can be and I don’t think it’s going to go that way, but I’m really hoping it is.”

Alyssa Figueroa is the Co-Chair of Akron DSA, and says they’re asking for a ceasefire on the ground in Ukraine.

“Seeing people who are being harmed, their lives have been completely upended, destruction nonstop,” said Figueroa. “I cannot imagine what it would be like to be asleep at home in my bed and then the next thing I know is there’s bombs falling.”

The Akron Democratic Socialists of America are running a letter-writing campaign, encouraging the public to write letters to Congress protesting the Russian-Ukrainian war.

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