Star Tribune
Ukrainian ambassador visits Minnesota, urges people to remember Ukraine
Inside a gym-turned-medical supply room at the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis, stacked high with bags of tourniquets and wound treatment kits, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States urged Americans not to forget about Ukraine’s struggle.
Ambassador Oksana Markarova’s visit to Minnesota on Thursday was the first of a 10-state tour, primarily of the Midwest, to increase community dialogue about the war and bolster support for Ukraine. Called Whistlestops for Ukraine, the tour is hosted by the think tank German Marshall Fund of the United States the philanthropic Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
“We can win this one. It is very difficult … we are fighting this fight every day, there are a barrage of missiles and drones on peaceful cities every day,” Markarova said to a supportive crowd of about 50, including a handful of injured Ukrainian soldiers. “But we will stay the course. We need you, our friends, to stay the course with us.”
The war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that left tens of thousands of civilians dead and millions of people displaced.
It hasn’t let up. In recent days, Russian missiles tore through apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local officials said Thursday, killing at least two people and burying families under rubble as the Kremlin’s forces continued to pound the fiercely contested area with long-range weapons.
Since the war began, the Ukrainian-American community in northeast Minneapolis and beyond has stepped up to support, by collecting money to purchase medical equipment to be sent off to the battlefield and by welcoming refugees in need of assistance. Minnesota is home to 16,000 people of Ukrainian descent, according Minnesota Compass data.
The ambassador was joined by Howard G. Buffett, head of the philanthropic organization, and Heather Conley of the think tank for the event that focused on the importance of continuing to support Ukraine as a stopgap to continued Russian aggression.
Ukraine never had any intention to attack Russia, Markarova said, pointing out how small the country is compared to Russia. Just like Ukrainian Americans who immigrated to Minnesota and built the community center, Ukrainians dreamed of living in peace, Markarova said. Their country’s choice to be Democratic and European was threat enough to Russian President Vladimir Putin, she said.
Buffett warned that if Ukraine is not successful in fighting Russia’s invasion, he predicts Russia will go on to attack a European NATO country and the United States will have no choice but to become fully embroiled in another world war with its greatest enemy.
“Americans have much more at stake in this than they realize,” Buffett said. “We will be sending our sons and daughters and our brothers and sisters to fight a war that has to be fought if it comes to other borders.”
The event also highlighted the work of Minnesota organizations and speakers like Dr. Yakov “Jacob” Gradinar who co-founded the Protez Foundation, which fits injured Ukrainian soldiers with prosthetics, as well as local refugee resettlement projects.
Other stops on Markarova’s tour of Minnesota included an agribusiness discussion at The Minneapolis Foundation, a visit to the Minnesota State Capitol with Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, a meeting with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a trip to the Minnesota Farmers Union with Gov. Tim Walz and a visit to the Protez Foundation in Oakdale.
The ambassador encouraged Minnesotans and Congress to support the supplementary budget ahead of what could be a life-threateningly cold winter if Russia attacks Ukraine’s energy grid once again, Marakova said.
The battlefield in Ukraine has seen few major changes in recent months. A Ukrainian counteroffensive that started in June dented deep Russian defenses in some areas but has failed to change the complexion of the 22-month war. Moscow has held firm in most of the areas it occupies while using the long-range weapons to inflict damage on Ukraine, including civilian areas.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
