A Decisive Moment: Ukrainian Ambassador to US Discusses Fight for Democracy

International

A Decisive Moment: Ukrainian Ambassador to US Discusses Fight for Democracy

Oksana Markarova, whose visit to SIS was organized by �鶹��Ƶ’s Student Association for Slavic Studies, said that her country’s fight against an invading Russia has implications for other democracies bordering autocratic nations.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the US speaks at SIS. Oksana Markarova discusses Ukraine's war against Russia with SIS senior professorial lecturer Garret Martin. (Jeffrey Watts/�鶹��Ƶ)

By Jonathan Heeter

The Ukrainian ambassador to the US told a standing-room-only crowd at the Abramson Family Founders Room on May 1 that her nation’s resistance against Russia’s invasion sends a message to autocrats that there’s a cost to disregarding sovereign borders.

“We must win to show that democracies can defend themselves,” said Oksana Markarova, who has served as ambassador since February 2021. “This is a decisive moment when we have to show Russia that they cannot do what they are doing.”

Markarova’s visit was organized by �鶹��Ƶ’s Student Association for Slavic Studies and Kyiv native Daniil Miroshnichenko, SPA/BA ’25, a member of the group. The association had previously arranged visits by the exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the Polish ambassador to the US Marek Magierowski.

“There’s such a difference between what you read or see in the news and what you can see on your own by putting a face to the cause,” said Lilly O’Flaherty, CAS/BA ’23, president of the Student Association for Slavic Studies. “This is such an important moment for this part of the world, and it’s great to have these government representatives share their stories at �鶹��Ƶ.”

Markarova said Russia’s invasion—ongoing for more than 430 days—has lasted much longer than most international experts thought because Ukrainians have fought for independence against invading nations for centuries. She called their willingness to fight for freedom a defining trait.

“We’ve always revolted,” Markarova said.

She also pointed to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ability to directly reach his people, which has served as an inspiration at home and abroad.

“He pulled out his phone and said, ‘We’re here, we are fighting, we will not surrender,’” Markarova said. “It’s a new level of transparency, a new level of communication. . . . The whole diplomatic corps [has done] the same. . . . We had to publicly say more.”

The costs of the war have been staggering. The United Nations reported 23,015 civilian casualties in Ukraine through April 23, including 8,574 civilian deaths. Explosive weapons with wide area effects account for 91 percent of the casualties. According to US government estimates, hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides of the conflict have died.

Markarova was quick to point out that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine didn’t begin in 2022. Ukraine has fought for its sovereignty against Russian forces since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, Ukraine’s strategically important peninsula on the Black Sea, and led armed conflict in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

The ambassador expressed gratitude to the US for supplying aid to Ukraine’s military and leading international sanctions. She also said her nation has felt the support of the American people and, when asked by whom? how to help, said “everything you do matters.”

“[When] you put a Ukrainian flag outside of your house and the decision makers see it, it’s a clear sign in a democracy that there is support,” she said. “Please continue writing to your [congressperson] and your senator. . . . Politicians need to hear what you think. . . . Let your politicians [know] that you do still support us.”