The best way for us to help is for you to help.
That’s the message from Salt Lake City to residents about how they can support the Utah capital’s sister city in war-scarred Ukraine.
Rachel Otto, chief of staff for Mayor Erin Mendenhall, said the mayor and City Council offices have been in contact with sister city Chernivtsi to see what it needs as Russian invaders rip through the Eastern European country.
Instead of sending supplies, Otto said, the most productive approach is to encourage people who want to help to take out their wallets for organizations that are trying to buy supplies already close to Ukraine.
“It’s been difficult,” she said Tuesday, “to get airlifted supplies to the country.”
In a video translated to English with subtitles, Chernivtsi Mayor Roman Klichuk said his city in western Ukraine is one of the few that has not been attacked.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
“The big cities in the country are now devastated,” Klichuk said. “The occupiers stop at nothing: They strike schools, kindergartens and even hospitals. This war is without any rules.”
Klichuk said his city has become a hub for volunteers, sheltering displaced people from other war-torn areas and distributing aid where it is needed.
That’s what struck council member Chris Wharton, who said Salt Lake City has been in similar circumstances as a place for refugees and people in the United States who have been displaced by natural disasters.
“I appreciated hearing that,” he said, “because I think it’s an important connection between the people of our two cities.”
The relationship between Salt Lake City and Chernivtsi began in 1989 after Lowell and Jane Turner visited Ukraine and noticed similarities between the municipalities, like their population and proximity to mountain ranges, according to a website for Salt Lake City’s sister cities.
In his video message, Klichuk said his city is not alone in the war, receiving aid from around the world.
“We are sincerely grateful to each of you,” he said, “for support and help.”
Otto highlighted Utah groups supporting Ukraine, including the Larry H. Miller Co. and Strangers in Ukraine, an organization supported by Equality Utah.
Salt Lake City has five other sister cities, including one in Russia:
• Izhevsk, Russia. • Keelung, Taiwan. • Matsumoto, Japan. • Torino, Italy (which, like Salt Lake City, hosted a Winter Olympics). • Trujillo, Peru.
