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Bay Area artist shares story of friends in Ukraine amid Russian invasion

(KRON) — A Bay Area artist says his friends in Ukraine are fearing for their life right now. “My friends may not make it through tonight,” said John Doyle. Videos of destruction and death have been pouring out of Ukraine. Bay Area artist John Doyle is getting them directly from people he knows. President refuses to flee, urges Ukraine to ‘stand firm’ “I am seeing people walking around with cameras with bodies blown apart, and it’s just instigating me to figure out ways to help,” he said. Doyle has been collaborating with people in the Ukraine art community for three years. Now, he is supporting his friends by getting out their message of what has happened since the Russian invasion. “My friends are wondering what to do,” Doyle said. “Do we put down our paintbrushes and pick up guns or do we remain pacifists? I don’t know what to do, but I am on the phone calling anybody I can to take a look at this thing. “I feel very helpless. I feel very scared.” He is in a group chat with his friends through a messenger app — that’s how they keep everyone informed of how they are doing. Doyle read off messages from his friends. “His goal is to eliminate our country, people, and culture,” Doyle said. “We can confidently say that Ukraine will never give up. We’re on our home ground and fight to win, but we also need support of the world community.” He’s encouraging people to reach out to organizations that are helping in Ukraine, like the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council. “This has nothing to do with politics. This is about loss of life. This is about people being caught in the crossfire. Civilian buildings being bombed out,” Doyle said. He says he will continue to check in on his friends and share their stories. “We have “X” amount of people and luckily those numbers aren’t falling,” Doyle said.
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Written by: Amanda Hari