The day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started, Honorary Consul of Ukraine Jonathan Freedman denounced the invasion and repudiated any notion that Ukraine is at fault for the conflict.
“These events of aggression are terribly sad and unfortunate for innocent Ukrainian families that are just trying to lead their lives,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune Thursday. “They didn’t ask for this. They did nothing to initiate an attack. It’s bullying at its rawest form. It’s completely unprovoked.”
Freedman has served as an honorary consul of Ukraine since 2008, after living in the country as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1993 to 1995. He said he served primarily in eastern Ukraine, in the city of Donetsk, a region that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent on Monday as a pretext for invasion.
Freedman joined others in Utah who spoke out Thursday against Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Freedman has kept in contact with people there and described the messages he has received since the invasion began, saying, “The people in Ukraine are frightened. They’re frightened literally for their lives, for their children. ... It’s really sad, because at this point they have no options. And they’re really just stuck.”
He noted that Utah is home to around 1,500 Ukrainians, who are currently fearful for their friends and family still living in the country.
When asked what Utahns could do to help the embattled nation, Freedman urged people to phone their representatives and ask for aid for Ukraine.
“We encourage people to call the White House,” he said, “to call our two senators in Utah and to ask for stronger sanctions, to ask for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, to, quite frankly, pray for Ukraine and for Ukrainians and for their country, which is very much at risk of being lost.”
Freedman has also been in contact with the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and its ambassador, who is working to combat misinformation about the conflict.
“On this somber morning, my heart is breaking and my thoughts are with the people of Ukraine,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said in a statement Thursday. “This premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified act of war must unite us in compassion, as together we stand against tyranny.”
On this somber morning, my heart is breaking and my thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. This premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified act of war must unite us in compassion as together, we stand against tyranny.#RussiaUkraineCrisis #StopWar #StandWithUkraine #NATO pic.twitter.com/VUOPozBPBZ
— Mayor Jenny Wilson (@SLCoMayor) February 24, 2022
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt, who taught law students in Ukraine for more than a decade, said he spent Thursday morning trying to reach out to his friends there to make sure they are safe. It left him feeling helpless.
“I’m extremely sad,” he said. “Some of my dearest friends in the world are literally fleeing for their lives as we speak. They are a woman and her son with whom I ate chicken soup in their apartment three weeks ago who are now in the long traffic jam trying to get out of Kyiv to get to Poland.”
Leavitt owns an apartment in Kyiv, and was there last month as threats of a Russian invasion prompted him to make a quick trip to collect paperwork proving ownership of that apartment and to collect some personal effects. He ended up stuck in Amsterdam for a week on his trip back to Utah because he tested positive for COVID-19.
During his years teaching in Ukraine, Leavitt said he instructed law students about the principles of American jury trials.
“When law students in Ukraine come to the realization that we’re asking them to not participate in a corrupt system,” he said, “meaning we’re asking them not to give bribes to judges and prosecutors and not to take bribes, it becomes a very somber and solemn moment for them.”
The county attorney said it was the Ukrainian law students’ confusion over how plea deals could work in the United States that made him realize the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. He is now outspoken about wanting reform.
Leavitt said that his time in Ukraine has influenced his legal career in Utah, making Thursday a “real tough day” for him, personally.
“If Americans believe that allowing Vladimir Putin just in a wholesale fashion to invade and take a country, that’s going to not affect every American life and every life in the world, they’re kidding themselves,” he said. “This is a moment in time when the world has to stand up against this.”
Jean Hill, who is the director of life, justice and peace with the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, told The Tribune in an email, “We join with Pope Francis in his call for prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine and the protection of innocent lives.”
“We encourage our government leaders to welcome any Ukrainian refugees displaced by these senseless acts of aggression and urge people to aid our Ukrainian brothers and sisters by donating to the efforts of Catholic Relief Services, which is already serving people in need in Ukraine,” she said.
This story will be updated.
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