‘Existence Is Resistance’: Santa Barbara Rallies Ahead of Four-Year Anniversary of War in Ukraine

On a windy February day, protesters gathered in downtown Santa Barbara with blue and yellow Ukrainian flags wrapped around their shoulders and held high in the air. 

This Tuesday, February 24, will mark the four-year anniversary of Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine. Around 50 people rallied on the corner of Anacapa and State Streets on Saturday, to protest the continued bloodshed.

“Ukraine is fighting for people, for children, for our land,” said Tetiana Jahns, co-founder of the Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara. Jahns organized Saturday’s rally alongside former supervisor Das Williams, who she described as a steadfast advocate for Ukraine.

“Land is not so important, but people are — people are dying every day. Children are being kidnapped every day. We are fighting for them,” Jahns said.

Next Friday, Tatyana Taruta will be returning to her occupied home of Mariupol with her family. At 5 years old, she said her son already knows the difference between the sound of a missile and a drone. “No child should know that.”

Taruta has become a prominent figure in Santa Barbara — using her voice as both a reminder of violence and a call for peace. 

“Since we stood here last year, very little has changed for the better,” she said. 

While Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, Taruta recounted, last year, civilian casualties hit their highest annual level since the war began.  Russian president, Vladimir Putin, continues to expand the war, bombarding the country almost daily with missiles — including a large-scale attack this past weekend. Families are freezing, Taruta said, because Russian military target power infrastructure, leaving citizens without heat during one of Ukraine’s coldest winters in years. 

“Ukrainians want peace more than ever,” Taruta said. “But peace does not mean surrender.” While Western sanctions against Russia have tightened since the beginning of the war, they’ve failed to cripple Russia’s economy, Taruta explained, saying the European Union’s recent talks of a new sanctions package against Russia have so far been unproductive. 

Before the crowd of protestors, Das Williams read from a letter written by Senator Adam Schiff, criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for cutting back on direct weapons supplies to Ukraine, while pushing for a “peace plan” that hinges on Ukraine relinquishing sovereign territory. The letter cited the “failure” of the U.S. government to “defend those who are attacked” — an administration that “instead seems all too willing to support the aggressor.”

“The administration must reject all the lies from Vladimir Putin and seek to support, not punish Ukrainians for defending their homeland,” Schiff said in his letter. “My colleagues and I will never bow to Moscow or its sympathizers.”

Taruta said that Ukraine is not powerless. 

“I know that Ukrainians will stand and Ukraine will win, and I know that children deserve to know the name of birds in the sky, not the name of the missiles,” Taruta said. “And I know that we all deserve a world where freedom and democracy is defended, not negotiated away.”

Santa Barbara’s Ukrainian Community

Thirteen-year-old refugee Anastasia Piven addressed the crowd in a firm yet soft tone. She grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, she said, where children like her are being deprived of their childhood. 

“My family and I are extremely fortunate to be here, but thousands of children are not given that same chance,” she said. Many have been abducted by Russian forces.

“You want to wake up in this nightmare, but you can’t,” she said. 

She told the Independent that she remembers coming to Santa Barbara at 9 years old with her mother, which was “new, scary and depressing.” She’s been back home once to visit her father.

“The city still lives, Ukraine still lives, and life goes on,” she recounted. “But it is challenging to hear air attacks, to hear sirens blaring at night and in the morning, when you only have 30 seconds or maybe a minute to get to a bomb shelter.” 

But while in Santa Barbara, she said, she has felt accepted and supported. It still feels temporary, however. “I cannot say I feel American,” she noted, “and I constantly feel like I want to go back, but I understand that is currently next to impossible.” 

Organizers on Saturday held a bake sale with homemade treats and trinkets to raise money for ongoing aid to Ukraine, including things such as blankets, lanterns, clothes, medications, stoves, and school supplies. 

The Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara have been employing “baking activism” — to borrow words from Williams — since the war started. It evolved into a partnership with World Dance for Humanity, which has also collaborated with the Ukrainian Baptist Church of Santa Barbara to raise money since the invasion. They are now raising around $5,000 per month through dance events, donations and bake sales. They even bought Christmas presents for children in occupied territories this past December. 

Money raised is distributed to partners in Ukraine, mostly women, who then go on to deliver supplies where it’s needed. 

“Every Sunday, we have a Zoom meeting with the people from Ukraine so we know what’s happening even before it was posted in the newspapers,” said Julia Rubanova, co-founder of the Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara. “We’re helping real people.” 

Saturday’s rally ended on a call to action from Alexei “Ljosha” Kremliovsky, founder of the Ukrainian Club at UC Santa Barbara. The university has a small but mighty Ukrainian community, he said, and the club continues to host cultural events, film screenings, and volunteer events — such as packaging aid and fundraising. 

“Unless people like us abroad stand up for Ukrainians they will disappear,” he said. “Ukrainian existence is resistance.” 
People can learn more and donate here.