Around two dozen attendees gathered Tuesday night in a Sheil Catholic Center classroom to honor lives lost in Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The vigil, hosted by Northwestern’s Ukrainian Club, fell on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began Feb. 24, 2022. In the candlelit room, Ukrainian Club members delivered speeches, recited poetry and showed videos on how the war affected soldiers and civilians.
“Being abroad, being safe, it is now our responsibility to be their voices, to share that the war is still ongoing,” said Medill sophomore Mira Trofymchuk, the club’s president.
Weinberg junior Viktoriia Sokolenko read the poem “The First Letter to the Corinthians” by Artur Dron, a Ukrainian poet who has been fighting in the war. Sokolenko said the verse reflects soldiers’ allegiance to their country.
The vigil also emphasized civilian lives lost in the war. In 2025, about 2,514 civilians died due to the conflict, making it the deadliest year for civilians since 2022, according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Some Ukrainian Club members have experienced the conflict firsthand. Weinberg junior and former club president Yuliia Chernova said she spent over a year in Ukraine following the invasion before coming to NU.
Although Russia’s full-scale invasion began four years ago, the wounds still run deep for Chernova. She said she has attended the vigil every year since arriving on campus.
“I cried two years ago in my first year, when it was the vigil during my first year, then last year as well and then now as well,” she said.
Attacks on energy infrastructure have also increased, according to the Mission. Sokolenko said her parents, who live in Kyiv, experience the consequences in their everyday lives.
Despite the ongoing conflict, Sokolenko noted that media coverage of the war has dipped over the past four years.
“People assume that it’s quieting down a little bit, or it’s become a little bit more peaceful or the people are not suffering as much,” Sokolenko said. “But it actually has become worse.”
Trofymchuk said the Ukrainian Club was founded in 2022 after the Russian invasion. As president, she said her goal is to promote Ukrainian culture and issues to people of different backgrounds in the NU community.
Recent club events, including a Friday panel at the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs on the war’s ongoing impact, also drew attendees from outside the University.
Chicago resident Khrystyna Musiy moved from her native Ukraine over 15 years ago. She said she happened to be in Evanston when she came across Facebook posts promoting the panel Friday. There, she met Trofymchuk, who invited her to Tuesday’s vigil.
“I felt very sorry that people younger than me needed to have this experience,” Musiy said. “But it also gave me hope because I see how incredibly talented and positive they are.”
To conclude the event, attendees held their own lit candles and listened as the names of 85 people who died in the conflict were read aloud. Sokolenko said since 2023, the club has added to the list of names, which includes people some members knew personally.
For Jacob Garcia, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in music theory and cognition, meeting people directly affected by the war through the Ukrainian Club made the conflict feel personal.
“You realize it’s not just something in the news,” he said.
Email: [email protected]
X: @desiree_luo
Related Stories:
— Ukrainian Club hosts student panel exploring impacts of Russian invasion at Buffett Institute event
— Northwestern Ukrainian club hosts vigil for third anniversary of Russian invasion
— Students gather for vigil two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
