Kalyna Lewkowicz holds a Ukrainian flag as the Town of Hempstead celebrates the 31st anniversary of Ukraine's independence with a flag raising a Town Hall Wednesday in Hempstead. Credit: Howard Schnapp

Hempstead and Nassau County officials raised the Ukrainian flag Wednesday to mark the war-torn nation’s 31st anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union.

While about two-dozen Long Island Ukrainian residents joined Hempstead Town officials to raise the flag over town hall, Nassau County officials did so over the county legislative building.

“Freedom and democracy are not things to be taken for granted,” Hempstead Councilman Anthony D’Esposito said. “Our friends from Ukraine know this all too well as their sovereignty is under assault by invading Russian forces. Our friends from Ukraine are fighting for their lives … we stand to proclaim that Ukraine is still a free country.”

The Town of Hempstead celebrates the 31st anniversary of Ukrainian independence from Russia with a flag-raising event at Hempstead Town Hall Wednesday. Credit: Howard Schnapp

Members of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America joined town officials to sing the Ukrainian national anthem and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Once again Ukraine is engaged in a bitter struggle for independence against a familiar Russian oppressor,” president of the local chapter of the committee Oleh Dekajlo said. “Today the lives and blood of Ukrainian men, women and children are being sacrificed.”

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Wednesday also marked six months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

During that time, a Hempstead town employee, Annie Caputo, took in a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl, Polina Shchepaniak, who came to Long Island for lifesaving heart surgery.

The girl, who was born with a hole in her heart, arrived in June after she was forced to flee Ukraine and plans for her surgery were halted at home. Polina’s condition increases blood flow to her lungs and could lead to higher blood pressure or a stroke.

She was matched in June with the Queens-based Rotary Gift of Life, which finds patients in need of pediatric microsurgery of the heart, and flown to Long Island.

Caputo took in Polina and her mother at her East Meadow home to prepare for the procedure and recover from the surgery July 20 at St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Roslyn.

Caputo speaks Ukrainian and was able to help the family acclimate to Long Island and guide them through the process.

Polina is now fully recovered and returned to her hometown near the Polish border this week. She has gained international fame and solicited an invite from the Ukrainian first lady.

“She was told she was a star,” Caputo said during the ceremony. “The family has expressed concern if the war reaches her village, they may have to flee the country. I just let them know that our home will always be there for them.”

John Asbury covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously covered crime for nine years for The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif.

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