ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (WFRV)-Northeast Wisconsin might be thousands of miles away from the conflict in Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are personally affected by what is going on there.

At a peace in Ukraine rally in front of the Resch Center Sunday, there were many people who attended that still have family living in Ukraine. Two of those people were Maksim and Alina Redko a married couple originally from Ukraine now living in Northeast Wisconsin.

“Your family is still over there so it hits you hard and it brings tears to your eyes. I’ve never cried that much or prayed that much as those last couple of days,” they said.

The Redko’s part of a rally with over 100 participants.

“Our hearts are broken for everything that is going on in Ukraine,” said Alina Redko.

During the rally, Alina sang a song called ‘Let My Prayer Go Out’ in solidarity with the people still living in Ukraine. Alina is from Ukraine and said she has lots of family that still lives there. While she sang, she had a Ukrainian flag draped around her shoulders. The flag had messages of support written on it in sharpie.

People Local Five News spoke to noted that seeing images of the resilience and fighting-spirit of the Ukrainians trying to defend their country has been inspiring.

“Ukraine is setting an example for the rest of the world how important it is to defend it’s freedom and rights,” said Maksim Redko.

Leaders of the rally, which was organized on Facebook, also led a group prayer and anybody who attended was allowed to share their thoughts about the situation to the group.

“This is really important to stand up and speak up for yourself,” said Alina Redko.

The rally included not just Ukrainians living in Wisconsin, but Russians as well. One woman held up a sign that said that Russians don’t like what’s happening and that this is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s conflict.

Other people who attended the rally had no connection to Ukraine yet still felt like it was important to be there to offer their support.