‘Act dead so Ukrainians may live.’ In busy Rittenhouse Square, depictions of Russian war atrocities seek to spark action

Anger and agony over Russian war atrocities surged in Philadelphia on Saturday as Ukrainian Americans and their allies staged a dramatic “die-in” during a busy Rittenhouse Square farmers market.

The recorded wail of an air-raid siren signaled demonstrators, who did not simply lie on the ground, as common in similar events. Instead they took up silent, prone positions on lawns and walkways, holding their bodies bent and twisted to depict the horrific, intimate scenes of death emerging from Ukraine.

Some had their hands tied behind their backs. Others had fake blood on their faces and clothes, and temporary tattoo bullet holes on their foreheads.

People lay on plastic bags to portray the gruesome findings in mass graves, even as farmers market shoppers strolled through the gardens with bags of apples, lettuce and eggs on their arms.

“I think people need to be uncomfortable,” said organizer Roman Strakovsky, 40, a data analyst who lives in Mount Airy. “People need to be uncomfortable with the fact that there’s a genocide happening in the heart of Europe.”

Staging a tableau of death in the heart of a famous, floral city park — on a gorgeous spring day — might disquiet pedestrians, he and others said, but it was hardly more upsetting than what’s occurring in Ukraine.

“We’re just portraying the reality,” said organizer Kate Rybak, 44, a human resources manager who lives in Churchville, Bucks County. “If it turns somebody off, I can’t control it. I hope people will at least become interested to learn.”

Organizers said they wanted to shock people into action, to compel them to face the facts of Russia’s routine killing of civilians — and to move them to contact their elected representatives and demand more arms and aid for Ukraine.

Called Act Dead So Ukrainians May Live, the die-in was organized by members of Philly Stands With Ukraine, which creates, supports and publicizes all types of rallies, fund-raisers, news, and events.

“I thought it was powerful,” said Christine Carlson, 59, who was in the square enjoying the sun and warm temperatures when she came across the die-in. “It’s a little bit different than seeing it on TV.”

All across the park, dogs pulled on leashes, parents chased after children, and mothers and fathers pushed babies in strollers. People chatted with friends, making plans to get coffee. Into that comfortable spring scene came a playing-dead reminder that Ukrainian civilians are dying every day in a war they didn’t start.

“It’s insane what’s going on,” said Ajane Ikner, 19, a student at Ukrainian-founded Manor College in Jenkintown, who came to the event with friends. “This is something I can do to show support.”

As people lay still and silent on the ground, the bells of nearby Church of the Holy Trinity happened to toll, ringing out the Easter hymn, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.”

”My friends are all the time in danger,” said Anna Kulynych, 28, a Ukrainian student who is in the United States while studying at Temple University. Her cheek was marked in mock blood. She fell to the ground with more than 30 others.

Suitcases, teddy bears, children’s shoes and bicycles served as props, mimicking the personal belongings of Ukrainian dead. A few people lay under Ukrainian flags and others clutched yellow-and-blue scarves.

”I’m just trying to get people to act,” said Kate Minkina, 26, here from Ukraine to study at Villanova University, her face marked with fake blood, “to get in touch with senators to get help for Ukraine.”

President Joe Biden called the situation in Ukraine “genocide,” amid wide demands to hold Russia accountable for war crimes.

Photographs and video have shown bodies in civilian clothes that have been shot and buried in mass graves. Amid the retreat of Russian forces from the outskirts of the capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials and foreign journalists shared images of corpses lying in the streets of Bucha and surrounding towns.

Large graves “filled with civilians” were found in Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, a spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC. Some people had their hands and legs tied, and had bullet holes in the back of their heads.

The images have become part of a searing montage that includes video of the rocket attack on a train station of waiting refugees in Kramatorsk.

“I was shocked to the core,” Strakovsky said, explaining the motive for the die-in. “I didn’t want to stand around and make speeches. I wanted action. I wanted people to put their bodies on the line, and feel discomfort. And make others feel some discomfort.”

He was 10 when he came here from Kyiv with his family, who are Jewish. They were admitted under an immigration program that accepts persecuted religious minorities from the former Soviet Union and other nations.

He and others called on leaders of the free world to stop “this modern-day genocide” and hold Russia accountable.

“It’s not a ‘protest,’” said organizer Rybak, who on Saturday wore a shirt streaked with pretend blood. “It’s the reality. … This is not a pretty, Hollywood movie that is happening in Ukraine.”

Rybak is Russian American, having come here from Siberia nearly 30 years go. She rescinded her Russian citizenship after that nation annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Her husband is Ukrainian. For them, the war feels close.

For others it can seem distant, she said. It’s hard to get people to pay attention for more than a short while, even to major world events, and even if others are being murdered.

“This should be in the face of people,” Rybak said. “This is beyond all wrong. And this should be stopped.”