photo by: Elvyn Jones/Journal-World

Wearing a Ukrainian flag and traditional headdress signifying the wheat and blue skies of her homeland, Oleva Bosworth, of Lawrence, demonstrates Sunday afternoon at the Douglas County Courthouse to raise awareness of the plight of her homeland. Bosworth has lived in the U.S. for six years, but is from Dnipro, Ukraine, where her family still lives.

Wearing a Ukrainian flag over her shoulders and a traditional headdress of her homeland, Oleva Bosworth’s mind was far away from the Douglas County Courthouse, where she joined about 75 other people Sunday to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of her country.

Bosworth, currently a resident of Lawrence, has lived in the United States for six years, but Ukraine is her heart’s home.

“I am Ukrainian,” she said over the noise of Massachusetts Street traffic and the blasting of horns to show solidarity with the demonstrators. “I’m very proud of my country.”

She’s not surprised by the success Ukraine has had in checking the Russian forces that invaded her homeland on Thursday. Recent history of Russian interference in Ukrainian internal politics, even after the populace threw off the pro-Russian leadership of President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, gave the country time to prepare for inevitable Russian aggression, she said.

“Everyone knew it was coming since 2014,” she said. “We’ve had two revolutions. We knew we had to be prepared. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a madman. He has no respect for the Ukrainian people or our culture. He wants to take us over to cancel our culture.”

Bosworth is confident that Ukraine, now led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, can stand up to Putin’s aggression, but is nonetheless worried about the fate of her family, friends and country.

“It’s panic attacks,” she said. “I check the news every three minutes.”

Bosworth also receives texts from her family in Dnipro, a city of about 1 million located a few hundred miles southeast of the capital city of Kyiv.

“There hasn’t been fighting there yet,” Bosworth said Sunday. “There were missile attacks last night (Saturday),” she said. “My family is safe. They were in a shelter.”

So far, the Ukrainians have performed admirably, said Bosworth, who praised the armed forces and Zelenskyy, who refused an American offer to evacuate so that he could lead the resistance from Kyiv.

“I’m proud of my country,” she said. “Not a single city has fallen. Our president is very brave. He is the best president. All those fighting are brave.”

Bosworth said she was at the Lawrence demonstration to raise awareness of the invasion and to build support for Ukraine. Americans can send more arms, and Americans can help by donating, she said.

Carrying a Ukrainian flag, Ilya Brown, of Lawrence, said he was at the demonstration for the same reason. He has family roots in Ukraine.

“I have friends and family in Kyiv and literally all over Ukraine,” he said. “I’m keeping in touch through texts and Facebook. They are in basements, shelters, fighting … just everything.”

Like Bosworth, Brown is proud and impressed with the effectiveness of the Ukrainian armed forces. He does expect the situation to evolve into a guerrilla war that will involve his friends.

Kristine Sheridan, of Oskaloosa, also attended the demonstration. The war saddened her, she said, and her opposition to all wars brought her to the courthouse.

I’m against war,” she said. “I would be here protesting any war, but this happens to be Russia. I support Ukraine.”