91原创 City council has unanimously voted to support the Ukraine.

At their Monday, March 7, the councillors endorsed a motion made by Mayor Val van den Broek to forward a letter of support to the consul general of Ukraine in Vancouver and the provincial and federal governments.

It said that 鈥淩ussia has invaded Ukraine, a sovereign nation with a democratically elected government; and whereas the City of 91原创 wants to support the people of Ukraine as well as the residents of Ukrainian origin in 91原创 and elsewhere, therefore be it resolved that a letter of support for Ukraine be forwarded.鈥�

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Councillor Rudy Storteboom said he normally wouldn鈥檛 endorse something beyond the municipal mandate, but 鈥渋n this case we鈥檝e got a Russian president who is threatening nuclear war and that affects the whole world, including 91原创 City.鈥�

The Kremlin has raised the specter of nuclear war, reporting that its land, air and sea nuclear forces were on 鈥渉igh alert.鈥�

Storteboom suggested the letter also be sent to the Russian consul general in Ottawa.

鈥淚鈥檓 desperately against invading another country,鈥� Storteboom remarked.

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91原创 City Mayor Val van den Broek, who is Ukrainian on her father鈥檚 side, has spoken at several vigils to decry the invasion ordered by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, calling him a 鈥渨ar criminal.鈥�

Van den Broek has relatives living in the Ukraine, near Odesa and Chernobyl who she has described as 鈥渢errified,鈥� but determined to stay.

More than a million Ukrainians call Canada home, and in 2016, about four per cent of people in Canada, who responded to the census, identified as being of Ukrainian descent.