New York protest demands end to U.S.-Ukraine war in Donbass

“Stop the bombing, stop the war, hands off Donbass! USA, CIA out of Ukraine!”

On April 10, anti-war activists rallied at the U.S. Armed Forces Recruiting Center in New York’s Times Square to demand justice for 5-year-old Vladik Shikhov, killed April 3 by a Ukrainian drone strike on his Donetsk village. They called for an end to the U.S.-NATO war buildup against the Donbass republics and Russia.

Protesters chanted, held signs and passed out informational leaflets to people passing by on this warm spring day. Next to the U.S. military site, they displayed a large banner that read: “From Donbass to Palestine, from Chicago to the U.S.-Mexico border: Stop the U.S. war on children!”

It was a modest first step toward building a movement to challenge the next imperialist war and educate workers in the U.S. about a critical conflict that has been systematically hidden from them.

“President Joe Biden has a long history of supporting the far-right government in Kiev, dating back to his term as vice president and the 2014 U.S.-backed coup that overthrew the legally elected government of Ukraine,” said Greg Butterfield, coordinator of Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine. 

“Biden, like Donald Trump before him, is acting on behalf of Wall Street and U.S. Big Energy companies that are determined to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project from bringing Russian gas to Western Europe.

“Washington considers Donbass civilians, like 5-year-old Vladik, expendable. We do not,” Butterfield said. “We don’t believe that poor and working people in the U.S. would support risking war with Russia for Wall Street profits if they were informed of the facts.”

The New York emergency protest has inspired the Anti-Imperialist Front and other groups to call for an international day of solidarity with Donbass on Saturday, April 17. 

The call to action, “No U.S.-Ukraine war on Donbass and Russia,” has been endorsed, shared and translated by groups in several countries, and is being used as an organizing tool. Follow the link to see the latest list of endorsers and add your group.