The sea of yellow and blue marched Sunday into the mural amphitheater under the Space Needle, chanting, "Enough, enough! Support Ukraine!"
At least 500 people gathered Sunday afternoon in downtown Seattle to commemorate the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling for peace and U.S. support.
The Ukrainian Association of Washington State led the group from Pike Place Market to Seattle Center.
Their message was simple: "The war is not over."
"Ukraine is not for sale," one marcher's sign read.
Sunday's rally came 1,094 days after Russian forces crossed into Ukraine intending to seize Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. However, Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had a stronger defense than anticipated, leading to a three-year campaign.
Since Feb. 24, 2022, about 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers and at least 10,200 civilians have died. Russia has not consistently released death toll numbers. The country reported 6,000 military deaths as of January 2023.
Nazariy Stetsyuk, a member of the UAWS, told attendees to make their voices heard and demand the U.S. government continue supporting Ukraine.
"Every delay in U.S. aid cost Ukrainian lives," he said. "Words of support are not enough. Ukraine needs real action."
The U.S. supplied weapons and aid to Ukraine under the Biden administration. Recently, tensions between President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy have boiled over, with Trump wrongly accusing Ukraine of igniting the war. Trump has promised to negotiate an end to the war within the first 100 days of his second term.
As heavy rain poured, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, vowed to support U.S. aid to Ukraine. They also criticized Trump.
"Now, as President Zelenskyy himself said, we have a dictator here in the United States," Jayapal told the crowd. "Donald Trump is a dictator, and he is doing a terrible job, in the words of President Zelenskyy. And I agree with him; (Trump) is playing to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and to other dictators around the world, and he is being played by Putin himself."
Jayapal's office did not immediately respond to a Seattle Times request for the source of a Zelenskyy quote labeling Trump a dictator. Trump had recently called Zelenskyy a dictator. Zelenskyy said Sunday he's willing to resign if that means peace in Ukraine.
Trump and his rhetoric were also on the minds of attendees. Violetta Price, 39, of Seattle, said Trump is a "tyrant" and "traitor" who is alienating American allies.
Some of Price's family members live in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. She said Russian officials recently refused to take her ailing uncle to a hospital. He later died at home.
She wants Americans to realize how the war in Ukraine impacts everyone.
"I think because Americans don't understand the depth of the depravity that's happening there, they don't understand why it's so important," Price said, with a Ukrainian flag draped over her shoulders. "It's just not like we want land. We know the kind of cruelty that our citizens are going to be subjected to."
As the event organizers played the U.S. and Ukrainian national anthems, Sergii Kluban, of Kenmore, stood alongside his family. They moved from Eastern Ukraine three years ago before the war started.
More than 25,300 Ukrainians arrived in Washington from January 2022 to April 2024, according to the state's Department of Social Aid and Health Services. About 6% of all Ukrainian refugees in the United States settled in the Puget Sound region.
Kluban attended the rally to support democracy and his remaining relatives in Ukraine.
"Trump (is) trying to not protect Ukraine," Kluban said. "He doesn't want to give any protection. He just wants to take money. He is only about money."
Daryna Suprun, 27, of Bellevue, moved to America from Eastern Ukraine five years ago. Since Trump took office, she said he has spread misinformation about the war. Suprun wants Russian-occupied land returned to Ukraine.
"Our Ukrainian parts, we want them back," she said. "We just don't want to give those parts to Russia, because it's not Russia."
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