Calgary Ukrainian community holds emergency rally following verbal attack on Zelenskyy at White House

After their president was berated at the White House, Ukrainian Canadians gather at city hall to thank the world for its support. Tyler Barrow reports.

Calgary’s Ukrainian community held an emergency rally Sunday in a response to the events that unfolded during the visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on Friday.

“Of course, we are deeply concerned about all of this because instead of supporting freedom and democracy, now we hear all said we have to support the terrorist, Russian aggression,” said Ukrainian Canadian Congress Calgary Branch President Roman Yosyfiv.

Those who attended the rally shared similar outrage.

“I feel like people died for nothing to be told some lie straight to the face,” said Ukrainian Canadian Nataliya Oleksiv.

“I watched the video and it riled me up. I could not believe how disrespectful he was to my president,” said Ukrainian Canadian Irena Fennema.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

University of Calgary military historian Rob Huebert said the White House incident was ominous and had historic echoes.

“We’re heading into a horrible situation,” Huebert said. “Basically (verbally) beating down (someone) – that’s the essence, of course, of what Hitler did with Austria and Czechoslovakia.

“Trump is talking about making good TV, instead of dealing with the very deadly nature of what he is talking about,” Huebert added.

“There is a potential (for) World War Three,” he said. “Let’s be clear, there is a real high risk here, but it’s not from the action of what the Ukrainians are doing. It is what the Russians are doing.

“So it’s just astonishing,” he added, “(that) someone as powerful as the American president, (is) basically lying about who is at fault here and who is creating the risk.”

The exchange came the same week Ukrainians marked the 3rd anniversary of the Russian invasion.

“We stay strong together to fight against this because this is not just about the fight, It’s about the entire world,” said Yosyfiv.

The focus of the rally was on Ukraine, but Yosyfiv and other organizers also drew attention to President Trump’s idea to annex Canada.

“He started attacking Canada, his first best friend. So I think we have to be in this thing together,” said Yosyfiv.

The UCC – Calgary branch also issued thanks for the support from global and Canadian leaders in response to the White House attack, including the prime minister, foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Block Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and others.