Nearly 100 community members gathered in White Plaza Monday evening for Stanford’s annual Rally for Ukraine, commemorating the third year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The total number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed since the 2022 invasion currently stands at more than 148,000, 46,000 of whom fought for Ukraine. On Monday, the U.S. delegation to the U.N. refused to vote in favor of a resolution condemning Russia’s actions, marking a sharp turn in U.S. foreign policy.

“I think it’s a very worrisome sign that in the diplomatic arena, the U.S. officially did not condemn the Russian invasion,” Ukraine Support Alliance at Stanford (USAS) co-president Andrii Torchylo ’25 told The Daily. “It’s a sign that perhaps Trump has more control over [the international environment] than just his presidential office.”

Torchylo led the rally, which commenced with the Ukrainian national anthem and a moment of silence to honor Ukrainians who have died during the war. 

Attendees carried signs reading “Stop War” and “Stand with Ukraine.” Another held a photo of Putin obscured by red paint, and a young woman held a poster with black block letters reading, “I’m scared.” A sea of blue and yellow flags spanned the crowd, with some tied around shoulders and others painted on faces. Each speaker at the rally ended their remarks with two words which the audience echoed back to them — “Slava Ukraini!,” a Ukrainian national salute that has come to represent resistance to foreign aggression.

“It’s our duty to explain who Ukrainians are, and that freedom and democracy are core values, and that peace in Ukraine secures peace in the USA,” said USAS co-president Alyssa Virker, a third-year Ph.D. student studying Ukrainian literature within the Slavic Languages and Literatures department, in a speech. “It is exhausting, but if we stop saying the things that are obvious to us, then Russia’s propaganda wins.”

Virker underscored the necessity for education regarding the war in Ukraine in her remarks, urging those who were personally affected to “tell [their] stories and share information.”

Political science professor and former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul ’86 M.A. ’86 gave a speech at the rally criticizing President Donald Trump’s recent statements regarding Ukraine, saying that he “finds [Trump’s actions] to be shameful.”

“I think [Trump’s stance on Ukraine] is tragic, I think it’s immoral, I think it’s not in America’s national interest and I think this will make us weaker in terms of our security and prosperity,” McFaul told The Daily. “That’s why I wanted to show my solidarity with these students.” 

Torchylo and USAS financial officer Kyrylo Korol J.D. ’25 organized the rally with Virker and other USAS leadership, aiming to include both Ukrainian and American voices sympathetic to the cause.

“I thought it was especially powerful when someone who was not born in Ukraine and has little to no connection feels very empathetic about the cause,” Torchylo said.

At Stanford, Torchylo and Korol said that a diverse representation of Eastern Europe in teaching and research and the use of Ukraine as a case study in international law and policy courses represented steps towards improving students’ awareness of the war.

“There’s a lot of history and geography and culture, a lot of interaction that I think gets overlooked, so we would love to see more of that engagement … and with places like Ukraine, Baltic Moldova and Central Asia,” Korol said.

Local artist Sasha Samuels spoke to the crowd about her experience traveling to Ukraine to paint portraits of front-line soldiers, and theater professor and Stanford Business School faculty member Dan Klein discussed his time visiting Kyiv in summer 2024. 

“I was amazed at how consistent the people were,” Klein said. “They were living a life. They were tired of being woken up every night, facing constant bombardment of not just actual physical assault, but also [the horrifying] news.” 

Alem Kent M.F.A. ’25 related their experience fleeing Sloviansk, a town close to the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Kent, a journalist-turned-documentarian, urged attendees to think critically about misinformation perpetuated by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war. Kent also spoke of the Crimean Tatar community to which they belong, who are devoted to protecting their culture despite persecution by Russian soldiers.

Sharing an audio clip of singers she recorded while in Kramatorsk, an eastern Ukrainian city affected by Russian airstrikes, Kent posed the questions, “What does it mean to perform when the world has collapsed? To turn war zones, bullet-ridden walls, into zones of song, dance, of folklore and wonder?”

The final speaker was philosophy professor Ethan Nowak, who shared his research on the intersection of philosophy and language by discussing his experience learning to speak Ukrainian. Nowak said that preserving and honoring the Ukrainian language could serve as a beacon of hope in times of distress and isolation.

The event ended as it started, with the Ukrainian national anthem. 

George Porteous contributed reporting.