A moment of silence will be held outside of Prince George City Hall at 6:00 on Thursday (February 23), which will mark one year to the hour since Russia dropped its first bombs on Ukraine.
The ceremony is being planned by Ukrainian refugees who have found themselves in Prince George since the invasion began, and they are inviting the whole community to stand in solidarity.
According to Dick Mynen, a PG for Ukraine and Share Hope Volunteer, there are currently 163 Ukrainians who have settled in town since the invasion started.
“This is important,” event organizer Mykhailo Pluzhnikov told My PG Now.
“These are very, very, very dark hours for all Ukrainian people. Nobody believed that, in the 21st century, such military action was possible.”
Similar ceremonies and moments of silence will be happening simultaneously across the globe.
6:00 Thursday night in BC is 4:00 Friday morning in Ukraine, the exact time that bombs will have been dropped 365 days ago.
“For us, for all Ukrainians around the world, it is important,” Pluzhnikov said.
“We have 8-million refugees. There is no numbers about victims for this war, but we feel the count goes into the thousands and thousands of victims.”
Following the moment of silence the Ukrainian national anthem will be sung, and speeches will be given by Ukrainians and, they hope, some local political figures.
Pluzhnikov and his family were living in Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, when the invasion started.
They experienced all of the horrors of living through the bombings, invasion, and eventual escape.
Their story will be published on Saturday.
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