(C) ShareAmerica
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Ukraine's flag flies across the United States [1]
['Lauren Monsen']
Date: 2024-08-23 16:57:21+00:00
Americans continue to fly Ukraine’s flag in big cities and small towns across the United States two years after the Kremlin’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s February 2022 further invasion, many Americans flew the blue-and-yellow flag in solidarity with Ukraine. Flags appeared coast to coast, outside homes and businesses and from cell towers, while iconic landmarks such New York’s Empire State Building and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington were bathed in blue and yellow lights. U.S. flag manufacturers could barely keep up with demand.
Two years later, U.S. flag vendors still field requests for Ukraine’s flag even if the initial rush has subsided. “Usually it’s not big quantities, like we had two years ago, but it’s still a consistent flag with regular sales,” says Artie Schaller III, president of the National Flag Company in Cincinnati.
Jordan Ahlstrom, co-owner of Flagman of America, in Avon, Connecticut, agrees. “There’s still a demand,” he says. Ukrainian flags are displayed in neighborhoods in Avon and in nearby towns like Simsbury and Windsor, Ahlstrom says, noting that Connecticut, near New York City, has a significant Ukrainian American community. “Connecticut is very supportive of Ukraine, overall,” he says.
First flown during the 1917–1921 Ukrainian War of Independence, the Ukrainian flag’s colors represent the blue sky and yellow wheat of a nation that is one of the world’s leading exporters of grain. The banner was adopted as a national flag in 1992.
In Santa Barbara, California, Russ Lazarenko has turned the intersection of San Roque and State Street into “Ukrainian Corner,” according to the Santa Barbara Independent. He maintains a row of mostly Ukrainian flags with help from Tom Moyer, of nearby Montecito. Originally from Ukraine, Lazarenko often waves Ukrainian and U.S. flags to passersby.
Tatyana Taruta, also born in Ukraine, volunteers with the Ukrainian Women of Santa Barbara, which raises money through bake sales and rallies to provide humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Viktor Talabishka, a partner in Your Moving Men, in Rockville, Maryland, said the moving company displays decals in support of Ukraine on their trucks to serve as a reminder that the war is ongoing. When not moving customers, the company occasionally uses their trucks to drive humanitarian supplies donated to nonprofits in Maryland and Virginia to New Jersey or Pennsylvania for shipping to Ukraine.
Talabishka says the truck decals prompt customers to ask the movers, most of whom are Ukrainian, about their relatives in Ukraine. “It shows a lot of interest and consideration from people, and we do appreciate those questions,” he said.
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[1] Url:
https://share.america.gov/2-years-after-russias-invasion-ukraines-flag-still-flies-in-us/
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