In a show of solidarity for the democratic people of Ukraine, the City Council between its Study Session and Regular Session raised in unison the Ukrainian flag in front of City Hall on Wednesday. They also passed a proclamation in support of Ukraine during the council meeting, and finally, ordered the exterior lights City Hall to glow in the Ukrainian flag colors of blue and yellow.
Late in 2021 and early 2022, the communist country of Russia began building up military forces along the Ukrainian border from the north, south, and east. The NATO countries, which includes the United States and most of the European countries, called out Russian President Vladimir Putin for planning an invasion in which he denied. On February 24, 2022, Russian troops invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine stating that Ukraine was created by “Soviet Russia” and it belonged to Russia. Ukraine had declared its independence from the former Soviet Union on August 24, 1991.
In response to the Russian invasion, NATO countries have since implemented severe economic sanctions against Russia.
The United Nations has estimated that 1,892 civilians in Ukraine have been killed during the 2022 invasion and 2,558 injured. NATO has accused Russia of committing war crimes during the invasion by intentionally bombing civilian infrastructures including hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, and train stations. On April 12, 2022, United States President Joe Biden described the most recent actions by the Russian troops as “genocide” claiming that intense civilian bombing against the Ukrainian people has made it “become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.”
