SALT LAKE CITY — As the three-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine looms, Yevgen Kovalov says the fighting and violence is hardly tapering.

"It is very intense. Russia is trying to aggressively occupy more areas of Ukraine," said Kovalov, originally from Ukraine but now living in Salt Lake City. "I don't see any indication that it's close to ending."

At the same time, some Ukraine advocates worry about a dip in aid the country has been receiving to contend with the Russian aggression.

"For almost three years, Ukraine has been living through a nightmare. The war hasn't stopped. The suffering hasn't stopped. The need hasn't stopped. Yet, as the war rages on, international support is shrinking," said Hayley Smith, chief executive officer of Lifting Hands International, a Utah-based nonprofit organization that has provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

With all that in mind, advocates for Ukraine and the small population of Ukrainian refugees in Utah are holding a rally on Saturday at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City as a show of support for Ukraine, invaded by Russian forces on Feb. 24, 2022. The event, which starts at 11:30 a.m., is meant to raise awareness about the continuing conflict as it reaches the three-year mark.

"We just want to remind people and society in Utah that the war is still happening," said Kovalov, whose father and sister still live in Ukraine.

The planned rally comes amid an increase in tensions between Ukraine and the United States — one of the European nation's key allies in fighting the war — stemming from President Donald Trump's seeming impatience with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump and Zelenskyy traded barbs this week, according to the Associated Press, and the Trump administration has engaged with Russian officials in pressing for an end to the war. So far, the United States has committed $183 billion in aid to the Ukrainian cause, AP reports.

The seeming shift in the approach to the war under Trump compared to his predecessor, President Joe Biden, is concerning to Ukraine advocates in Utah and elsewhere, given Russia's role as aggressor in the conflict. Notably, the Trump administration's initial outreach in trying to settle the conflict has been to Russian officials, not Ukrainian leaders.

"The current talks between the U.S. and Russia are alarming. Ukrainians are facing a potential agreement without Ukrainian input, an agreement made without consideration of Ukrainian sovereignty," Smith said.

Kovalov said Trump's critical comments about Ukraine and his administration's outreach to Russia are concerning. "The United States has been a very good ally for Ukraine and helped a lot," he said.

The focus of Saturday's rally, though, is marking the three years the conflict has lasted and, according to event promotional material, pressing for "a just peace." The Utah Ukrainian Association, which Kovalov helps lead, is the event sponsor with support from advocates like Mindie Packer, of Hope Across Borders, a Utah nonprofit group that has also sent aid to Ukraine.

"The rally has nothing to do with Trump's recent statements or anything like that," Packer said.

Still, she also took issue with Trump's recent remarks, including his statement that Ukraine started the war. "I don't even see how he could possibly think that. I mean, they're just living their lives, and then Russia just invades," Packer said, also noting Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

1,000 Ukrainians in Utah

Perhaps 1,000 Ukrainians live in Utah, drawn by the federal Uniting for Ukraine initiative geared to the many Ukrainians who have been displaced by the war, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services' refugee services office. Packer said she's helped sponsor 18 Ukrainians in coming to the state, sympathetic to the plight of the people in the nation.

Her husband served a church mission to southern Russia in the 1990s, where many Ukrainians live, and he, too, feels compelled to help. "We both just felt like we've got to do something, even though small," she said.

Indeed, Hope Across Borders, which Packer helped co-found, has provided thousands of dollars in food aid for Ukraine as well as hygiene kits, medication, school supplies and more. She's been to Ukraine or Poland, where many displaced Ukrainians have fled, at least seven times since the start of the war, most recently last September.

"It's sad to say that you would think that as the war progresses, it would maybe slow down a little bit; but, actually, it's the opposite," said Packer. "The war is actually ramping up. You don't go a day without hearing the air raid sirens."

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Smith said Lifting Hands International has sent food and medical aid to Ukraine and that the organization has also provided psychological support to those who need it. "A full-size shipping container with aid donated by Utahns just arrived in Ukraine, and another shipment is scheduled to leave our warehouse in American Fork before the end of the month, marking our 20th shipment to Ukraine since the start of the invasion," she said.

Smith worries about a dip in aid to the country, though her organization is keeping up shipments. Kovalov, meantime, says continued political support from international allies is vital to Ukraine's survival. "Ukraine cannot stand on its own, so it does need help," he said.

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