About 300 people met up in Balboa Park on Sunday afternoon to show renewed support for Ukraine, just days after an explosive Oval Office meeting during which PresidentTrump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
Cars driving by honked and drivers flashed thumbs-up signs at the crowd, many of whom held Ukrainian flags and signs saying “Stand with Ukraine,” “Putin is a nuclear terrorist,” and “Thank you U.S.A.”
The rally also featured speakers and singers.
Many attendees were there to show appreciation and gratitude for the United States, as well as to renew calls for Russia to leave Ukraine. The two countries have been at war since Russia first launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Many expressed concerns over Zelensky’s treatment by the Trump administration.
“I have a lot of questions,” said Ukraine supporter and Oceanside teacher Nadia Haywas, who spoke at the event in her role as an educator and a member of a military family. “The accusations being made had nothing to do with diplomacy.”
“We teach children not to bully, and any child who saw that on television witnessed our heads of state bullying, disrespecting the fact that this other head of state learned a foreign language in order to communicate with them,” Haywas said. “We’re not setting a good example.”
An awareness event, organized in part by the nonprofit organization Shield of Freedom, is held every weekend at Balboa Park in order to remind Americans that Ukraine is still under attack by Russia, and to honor Ukrainians and their allies who have died fighting in the war.
Sunday’s event, however, had an increased sense of urgency after last week’s geopolitical showdown and the extraordinary show of international support for Ukraine that followed it.
“The one thing that is positive in the eyes of everyone who witnessed this… no one can tell us that we have ‘lying eyes,'” Haywas said.
“We saw it, we heard it, over and over again to make sure that we’ve comprehended it the right way. “
