MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Marina Kuchar, dressed in traditional Ukrainian garb on Sunday, has been constantly checking news from her hometown in Ukraine.
"I reach the point that I cannot worry anymore like you worry, but how long and how much can you worry," said Marina Kuchar, who now lives in Weatherly.
She says she's worried about her parents and other good friends, all in various parts of Ukraine.
"My father is in Mykolaiv. Still, that is heavily bombed right now, and fights are happening right now there," said Kuchar.
She's not the only one anxiously waiting to hear from loved ones.
"Twenty minutes ago, they got notice they have to go in the basement. I cannot reach them up right now, I don't know what is going on, and it's been for four days they cannot find a quiet place," said Ruslan Sulima, originally from Cherkasy, Ukraine.
With most of his entire family in Ukraine, Sulima is also taking action by demonstrating.
At Court Square in Stroudsburg, numerous people living in the area, though thousands of miles from the people of Ukraine, all had one message of solidarity.
"Stroudsburg is a very diverse area, and we're proud as the mayor and the borough of Stroudsburg to stand behind Ukraine, to end this war," said Stroudsburg's mayor, Tara Probst.
Many from different parts of the world at the demonstration also expressed concern for the Russian people.
"People see that it's Putin and not people and, there might be some people, but it's certainly not the masses," said Svetlana Hanover, who is from Russia and now lives in Cresco.
"I think when government and people work together, that's amazing, but right now in Russia, unfortunately, there are millions of political prisoners," added Kuchar.
"Innocent people dying, Ukrainian and Russian people. It's innocent, these soldiers they're also innocent, they didn't know what they're doing, where they're going. This has to stop, this war has to stop," said Sulima.
"We are for peace. What's going on right now. It's really frustrating and upsetting," said Alla Leybinsky, from Belarus.
But for some, optimism is slowly replacing anxiety.
"The world is united against Putin now. The entire world is united. Russians are going to go to their banks, and when the markets open for them on Monday morning, they will get their cold shower. They will understand that everything they are being told on their state TV is a lie," said Hanover.
"They were not expecting such a defense from Ukraine. Ukrainian people standing for their ground, standing for their land, standing for their life," said Sulima.
And Marina Kuchar is using this demonstration as a message of hope.
"Also send these pictures and videos of this to friends of mine in Ukraine to just to lift their spirits that whole world is standing up," said Kuchar.
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