Stefan Romaniw OAM, the co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress here in Australia, talks to Luke Grant about Ukrainian Australians feeling completely helpless.

Mr Romaniw asks, Why?  How could this happen in the 21st century?

Last Thursday, these questions were on the lips of many, including Ukrainians in Australia, as Russia started a war to seize Ukraine.

Seeing missiles in the skies, people stood in shock. The feeling was compared to when we saw two planes fly into the twin towers on September 11.  In a mad panic, many Ukrainians in the diaspora took their phones to call parents, family and friends in Ukraine. It was a surreal feeling. Vladimir Putin, who had bluffed the world into thinking he wanted to negotiate, in turn commenced a full-scale offensive.

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