Ukrainians living in the United States and Canada are setting up protests and calling for a stronger response from the United States and the European Union to calm tensions between anti-government protesters and riot police in Kiev, according to the Associated Press.
In the Pittsburgh area, Ukrainian churches and social clubs are organizing memorials for those who died and wondering why more people don't share their outrage, the AP reported.
"It's disheartening for everybody, to see people struggling who want freedom," said the Rev. Timothy Tomson, according to the AP.
Tomson said his cousin in Ukraine recently told him, "We want what you have - the freedom to complain, to throw bad politicians out of office," the AP reported.
"As an American citizen, I'm very disappointed in my country," Tomson said, according to the AP. "Our government is doing nothing, and the same with the EU."
Nearly three months of anti-government protests have paralyzed Kiev, Ukraine's capital, and clashes that left at least 25 people dead Tuesday were the worst violence yet and raised fears of civil war, the AP reported.
The United States raised the prospect Wednesday of joining partners in Europe to impose sanctions against Ukraine, according to the AP. The European Union called an extraordinary meeting of its 28 member countries on Thursday to address the situation.
Pavlo Bandrisky, vice president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America's Illinois division, said he is "very concerned, very worried" about what will happen next which include fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will send in troops to help quell the uprising, according to the AP.
Most people living in Ukraine, regardless of whether they personally feel more aligned with Europe or Russia, all want the same thing, he said: "They want to live like normal people," the AP reported.
There are tens of thousands of Ukrainians in Chicago and its suburbs, and hundreds are expected to protest at the Ukrainian Consulate in Chicago on Wednesday, the AP reported. They also plan to hold a candlelight vigil in the Michigan Avenue shopping district Wednesday night.
James Bezan, a Canadian Parliament member of Ukrainian descent, said he is disgusted by what he sees as the callous behavior of Yanukovych and his regime, and is angered by the force used by government authorities, according to the AP. More than 1 million people of Ukrainian descent live in Canada.
A handful of anti-government protesters have taken shelter inside the Canadian Embassy in Kiev after riot police barged into a large opposition camp with stun grenades and water cannons, the AP reported.
George Honchar, of Carnegie, just outside Pittsburgh, said the local Ukrainian-American community is contacting congressional members and planning rallies to give people in Ukraine "the moral support that they are not alone," according to the AP.
"We're just asking for Ukrainians to have the same rights that we in America have - just basic human rights," Honchar said, the AP reported.
