News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Supporters of Ukraine in its war against Russia rallied in Alpena on Saturday. Many people waved signs and Ukrainian flags, while others wore hats displaying the flag’s colors.

ALPENA — On Saturday, about 100 people marched from the Alpena County courthouse to Culligan Plaza in downtown Alpena, waving Ukrainian flags and signs to show their support for Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since February 2022.

Many of the attendees wore hats depicting the colors of the Ukrainian flag and many had custom pins on the jackets.

Boyd Byelich, founder of the charitable organization One Box, which helps provide Ukrainians with basic living supplies, said during the drawn-out war, it seems many people’s support for Ukraine may have slipped. He said it is important to let the country know that many Americans still support it.

About $500 was raised for One Box during the event.

Byelich said he has visited Ukraine more than a dozen times and had an up-close view of the impacts the war has had on the nation.

“This march is to show them that there are still people here that care because there are a lot of people that care,” he said.

Currently, the United States and its allies and partners are working toward a ceasefire that could temporarily pause the attacks in both Ukraine and Russia.

The United States is still awaiting word from Russian President Vladimir Putin if he will accept the terms of the proposed deal. Putin said he is open to a ceasefire, but also laid out terms of his own that still need to be negotiated.

Byelich said it is nice to see some possible progress being made, but he still has doubts about a deal being made.

“It’s encouraging, but it is hard to see what will happen next,” he said. “It begins to look encouraging, then all of a sudden things take a step backward. At least there is dialogue going on, which is more than there was for the last couple of years. There is a lot of optimism, but still a lot of questions too.”

Laurie Hunter crocheted hats that paid tribute to Ukraine. She said she made them so people participating in the march could show their support for the embattled country as one.

Hunter said she knows there is still a lot of support for Ukraine around the world, but she also feels it has slipped deeper into people’s minds as time has passed.

“I think we see it so much that many people have kind of become numb to it,” Hunter said. “I think the first few months people turned on the news to see how things were going and now it is just like part of life, and that is pretty sad.”

Hunter said she continues to hold out hope that Russia and Ukraine can reach a ceasefire deal that could stop the fighting.

“You always have to hold out hope,” she said.

Mark Milstein didn’t mince words when it comes to the war and how the United States has handled recent developments. He said the moves the United States makes have implications beyond Russia and Ukraine.

“It isn’t only Ukraine, but it is also NATO and all of our other allies,” he said. “It seems like all of a sudden we are abandoning our allies and that is disgraceful. I don’t know how many decades we have been allies with those countries, but now all of a sudden we don’t want to help anybody around the world. We don’t want to be a part of NATO, It just doesn’t send a good message to anybody.”

Milstein said he supports continued support in terms of funding and weapons to Ukraine. He said if the war begins to tilt too much in Russia’s favor, there may need to be further American involvement, including sending U.S. and NATO troops to Ukraine.

“I believe that Putin is such an evil man that we need to, and I hate to say this and I don’t really want to and I don’t think anyone really wants to, but we need to see this through to the end,” he said.