Ihor Samokish says he’ll never forget the day his family arrived in the United States. The son of Ukrainians who were displaced during World War II, Samokish was born in a camp in Ingolstadt, Germany. But in 1950, he and his family were onboard a ship that landed on Ellis Island.

“I just remember putting on the vest and standing up there and people running around,” says Samokish, who was born in 1947. “There was a band playing when we were getting off the ship.”

Growing up, Samokish says that sometimes other kids would tell him and his friends – many of whom were also the children of displaced Ukrainians – to leave the United States. So early on, his parents instilled in him a sense of pride in being Ukrainian. Samokish went on to join Plast, a sort-of Ukrainian version of the Boy Scouts. He was also an altar boy at his church in New Jersey and is fluent in Ukrainian.

“We kind of came over about the same time and [attended] the Ukrainian church and all that. So we had our own little gang of Ukrainians,” jokes Samokish.

As an adult, Samokish has stayed involved in his community no matter where he is. About four years ago, he moved to the D.C. region with his partner and became a parishioner at St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Silver Spring, Md. When the Russian invasion began last year, Samokish says he felt that same sense of pride when Ukraine fought back.

“I really didn’t know what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised that we didn’t go down like everybody projected us to,” says Samokish.

In the year since, St. Andrew has become a hub of activism and fundraising, as well as just a place for the community to come together. In September of 2022, the church hosted its annual Ukrainian festival, which saw attendance from thousands of people – including non-Ukrainians.

Samokish, meanwhile, says he’s gotten very involved in the efforts to send medical supplies to Ukraine. He says it makes him feel like he’s done more than just protest.

“I’ve been to Poland twice,” says Samokish. “We have couriers that come in from Ukraine. They pick it up and they take it directly to the hospital or the ambulance company that needs it the most.”

Still, Samokish says this war and its brutality has changed him. Although he describes himself as a “pacifist liberal”, Samokish wishes that he could send more than just trauma kits. He says he wants to see Russian soldiers and President Vladimir Putin pay for the lives of innocent women and children who’ve died.

“If it was up to me I’d transport bullets but I don’t think they’d allow that,” says Samokish. “I hate to say this… I know I’ve saved somebody’s life with that stuff, but I’d like to take somebody’s life. You know, the other side’s life.”

Samokish is far from the only Ukrainian American who feels obligated to speak out and take action. On this anniversary of the war, Ukrainians throughout the D.C. region are marking the date solemnly. Michael Sawkiw, the executive vice president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, stood outside of the Russian Embassy on Thursday evening with about two dozen others to demand the world bear witness to the war in Ukraine.

“We don’t want to be here, obviously, but we have to be here,” says Sawkiw. “Ukraine is being subjugated to massive aggression and brutality for the past 365 days. And that needs to be brought to the attention.”

Leisa Bihun and her husband Andrew say they felt obligated to come out. The pair says they used to work at the American Embassy in Kyiv back in the 1990s. They carried the flag of Ukraine and wore blue and yellow pins as a show of support.

“We’re just praying for Ukraine to be victorious,” says Bihun, who was born in Poland after her parents fled Ukraine. “We hope that our country, the United States, will send the jets to Ukraine for what [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy’s been waiting for.”

As someone who was forced to flee the country, Kateryna Odarchenko says the war has been hard for her and her family but that she doesn’t want attention to fade away. Odarchenko has been living in the region for the past 10 months.

“It’s very painful because many friends died,” says Odarchenko. “I think that it must be not only today, an anniversary, but really every day standing with Ukraine.”

Bohdan Hetmansky, who was born in England because his parents were forced to flee Ukraine after World War II says it’s an especially difficult time for the local Ukrainian community.

“I’m saddened that this is still going on. I’m saddened that Russian occupiers are in Ukraine and that Ukrainian lives are being lost, both civilian and military,” says Hetmansky.

Father Volodymyr Radko, a student at the Catholic University of America, says he was in Ukraine visiting his family when the war broke out. He says he was unable to leave for almost a month and described day-to-day living as being akin to a “horror movie.”

“The first couple of days, it was unreal,” says Radko. “But then you learn how to live with the air raid sirens, go to shelter orders, and with the terrible news.”

Still, Radko says he’s managing to get through the anniversary by turning to his faith and being in community with others. He says it’s that same thinking that will lift up Ukrainians both locally and back home where the war continues.

“I believe that the prayers are answered every day,” says Radko. “They stand there, willing to fight for their home, to live in the free country. And the prayers help them to keep that spirit unbroken.”