Olexandr Kopyl had been operating his mail-order company in Osaka with a watchful eye on the tensions that were arising around his home country of Ukraine.

When the Russian invasion erupted on Feb. 24, the concerns of the 38-year-old Ukrainian turned into grave fears for his loved ones.

His parents live near a military complex in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, he said, and he called them on Feb. 24.

The call did not go through.

“I am worried if missiles have flown there,” Kopyl said. “I just want to tell them not to panic.”

The Russian invasion has sparked a wide range of emotions among Ukrainians across Japan, including shock, fear and anger. But a sense of solidarity has also strengthened among the expats, along with hopes that Japan, its people and cities can help restore peace in Ukraine.

Leo Luchuk, a 37-year-old originally from Lviv, western Ukraine, works at the Kobe city government’s international affairs division. Since 2018, he has served as an interpreter for the Kobe mayor and other officials.

“I want it to end as soon as possible,” Luchuk said about Russia’s military attack. “I am worried about my home country.”

He said he has been able to communicate daily with his parents who live in Lviv using social network sites.

The city of Kobe has paid attention to Ukraine’s rapidly growing IT industry and supported businesses and students in the country, seeking to strengthen relations.

Luchuk came to Japan for the first time in 2005 when he was 20 years old. He was interested in Japanese literature, particularly the works of Yasunari Kawabata.

He has been unable to return to Ukraine for seven years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons.

Luchuk and his boss had scheduled a one-week visit to Ukraine in mid-March to survey if university students there are interested in Japan and how they can search for jobs.

But the trip was canceled because of the crisis.

Still, the war in his homeland has not blighted his hope to “become a bridge between Japan and Ukraine,” Luchuk said.

WORRIED ABOUT FAMILY, FRIENDS

Alexander Dmitrenko, a 44-year-old international lawyer who lives in Tokyo, was glued to the internet following the news about Russia’s invasion. He said he was concerned about his friend who lives in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine.

He received a reply from the friend around 2 p.m. on Feb. 24, but it did little to reassure Dmitrenko.

“I hear incessant explosions and gunshots from the city streets,” the friend wrote. “I can’t get out because I am scared.”

Dmitrenko joined other Ukrainian expats at an anti-war protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Tokyo.

“My hope that things would move toward a resolution was suddenly destroyed today,” he said of the Russian attack. “It was so sudden that I am struggling to come to grips with it. I cannot describe how I feel.”

On the evening of Feb. 24, an emergency demonstration against the Russian invasion was held in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.

About 30 Ukrainians and supporters gathered in front of the famous Hachiko statue, yelling, “Putin, Stop the war!”

FROM SISTER-CITY KYOTO

Daisaku Kadokawa, the mayor of Kyoto, a sister city of Kyiv, said in a statement released on Feb. 24, “I sincerely hope that the situation (in Ukraine) will end soon but not in a military way, and that peace will return as quickly as possible.”

The two cities declared a sister-city relationship in September 1971, when Ukraine was a Soviet state.

Kadokawa said he visited Kyiv five years ago and “was impressed by the city nurtured by history, its rich culture and beautiful nature.”

“I am gravely concerned by the news reports that the situation has become increasingly tense,” he said.

Anna Omelchenko, 27, a company employee who lives in Machida, western Tokyo, managed to contact her brother, 24, who lives in Kyiv, on the afternoon of Feb. 24.

He told her that people there have avoided going out.

Her parents, both in their 50s, live in a suburb of Kyiv.

“I feel dread and am angry at Russia,” she said. “I hope Japanese people to support Ukraine.”

(This article was compiled from reports by Shuya Iwamoto, Takaaki Fujino, Hiroaki Takeda and others.)