WATCH: Human chain rally for Ukraine as local fundraising passes $140,000

“Another beautiful day in Kelowna, another terrible day in Ukraine.”

Those were the emotional words from one of the 100 people who showed up in Kelowna for a powerful ‘human chain’ rally in support of Ukraine Sunday afternoon. They held hands and linked as one across the pedestrian bridge over Harvey Avenue.

“I come every Sunday when I can,” Shimon Gelblum told Kelowna10, while proudly wearing his orange Kelowna Stands For Ukraine t-shirt. He said if it’s Sunday he’ll be here showing his solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

He added the word coming from the embattled people back home is that they see and hear about these sorts of rallies and it means a lot to them.

Denys Storozhuk , the organizer of the event and for the Kelowna group raising funds for the war effort said the community continues to show extraordinary generosity amid the ongoing bombardment by Russian forces.

“So far we have raised $140,000, most of which has been spent in supplies,“ he said. “This has really snowballed.”

Storozhuk , who was born in Kyiv, moved to Kelowna 20 years ago and admits previously he didn’t maintain much ties with the old country.

“But when the aggression started three weeks ago it was so surreal, so heartbreaking, I had to start this movement.”

He also explained people in Ukraine were bolstered by the images they see of shows of support like the one in Kelowna.

“They’d be pretty miserable without our support,” he said. “Not just our material support but the public showing of support here.”

Ukraine continues to plead for more support from western nations more than three weeks since Russian forces invaded the country.

While there is still no sign of progress regarding a possible peace deal there was an ominous message Sunday from the Russian defence ministry according to Russian media. It set a 5 a.m. Monday deadline for Ukrainian forces defending the besieged eastern port city of Mariupol to surrender. A Ukrainian official said there was no question of a surrender.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said 3.1 million people had so far fled the country with several cities across the nation sustaining massive damage and loss of life from Russian missiles and shelling.

Earlier this week Storozhuk told Kelowna10 each day of the conflict was a crucial moment for the world.

“We need to forget about our previous life, otherwise we will regret later that we did not do anything in this moment,” he said.

The group’s latest endeavour, other than sending military aid supplies to Ukraine, is to establish a sister city relationship between Kelowna and Rivne in northwestern Ukraine.

The city, like every other, has fallen victim to shelling from Russian forces. Several members of the Kelowna Stands with Ukraine non-profit have ties to the city. Rivne’s mayor saw the overwhelming support from Canada and connected with the group.

Creating a sister city relationship will make it easier to channel financial and other support directly to administrators in Ukraine.

The issue will be discussed by city council Monday.

To help raise money for Ukraine, a yard sale will be hosted on April 2nd at 1935 Barlee Road.