On April 19-22 eight of our community members traveled to Washington DC to represent Colorado at the latest Ukraine Action Summit. The numbers for these twice-yearly events are always impressive — hundreds of delegates from all 50 states, hundreds of meetings with Members of Congress and their staffs, all packed into two days on Capitol Hill.

But the substance for us Coloradans who support Ukraine is much more important. Our Colorado delegation had a chance to talk about Ukraine with our Senators and Congressmen. Senator Hickenlooper, Representatives Neguse, Crow, Pettersen and Evans individually and personally met with us. Senior staff for Senator Bennet and Representatives DeGette, Hurd, and Crank also sat down with us for individual meetings.

Only Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO-04) — who threw up her hands yesterday in disgust when Britain’s King Charles told Congress that the United States should support Ukraine — she alone refused to meet with us, as she does every time we go to Washington DC.

The lesson for us is clear: when we go to Washington and call on our elected officials to support Ukraine — through sanctions against Russia, financial and other support for Kyiv — the response from nearly everyone is excellent. Now our job is to let voters know who supports Ukraine, and who doesn’t. This is an election year.

Ukrainians of Colorado is a member of the American Coalition for Ukraine, which organizes this advocacy. Participation in our advocacy is open to every constituent in Colorado who supports Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. Mark Dillen