Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his wife visited Svoi Patisserie in St. Louis’s Central West End on Tuesday morning, drawing community members to the Ukrainian café, which opened less than a year ago. Yushchenko signed a book for a fan and posed for photos but made no formal remarks. For the immigrants who run the bakery and those who came to see him, the stop was a personal encounter with a former leader as Ukraine’s war continues.
Dmytro and Taisiia Hrynchyshyn, who fled the war in Ukraine four years ago and opened Svoi Patisserie in January, described the visit as an honor. “It is a great honor,” Dmytro Hrynchyshyn said, according to St. Louis Magazine, which first reported on the stop. The café is known for Ukrainian cheese pancakes called syrniki.
Yushchenko was in St. Louis for an appearance at Washington University’s Weidenbaum Center, where he was slated to discuss the war with Russia, Ukraine’s future and the broader implications for Europe, according to the Washington University Weidenbaum Center. The night before the bakery visit, he spoke in Ukrainian to several hundred people at St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church in south county, according to the same account. Tetiana Mouzi, who moved to St. Louis from Ukraine 13 years ago, said she stayed at the church until 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, listening to him and meeting other attendees.
A Longer History of Ukrainian St. Louis
The community’s roots in the region predate the current arrivals. The St. Louis Review reports that Western Ukrainian immigrants began settling in the area toward the end of the 19th century and that St. Mary’s Assumption was founded in 1907 to serve Ukrainian and Ruthenian Catholics. More recently, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that hundreds gathered at Tower Grove Park on Feb. 26, 2022, in solidarity with Ukraine—an earlier public response distinct from Yushchenko’s bakery visit.
The arrival pathways and support needs of more recent newcomers have varied. In August 2022, St. Louis Public Radio reported that more than 200 Ukrainians were coming to the St. Louis area, many through Uniting for Ukraine, and that more than 700 Missourians had applied to sponsor Ukrainians statewide. Its report described local assistance navigating the program and noted that people admitted through it entered on humanitarian parole, which did not provide many benefits available to refugees arriving through resettlement programs.
A Symbol Forged by Crisis
Mouzi said Yushchenko’s presence gave the community hope. “He is the person who brought us hope,” one attendee told the station’s report. Ukraine’s third president, Yushchenko served from 2005 to 2010. His political profile had already been shaped by the 2004 Orange Revolution, which followed a disputed election and widespread protests over electoral fraud and intimidation, according to the Weidenbaum Center.
Yushchenko was poisoned in 2004, according to WTTW News. The episode made him a symbol to many during the campaign. Since leaving office, he has continued to criticize Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, according to the Weidenbaum Center’s event description. In a 2023 appearance in Chicago, he spoke about Ukraine’s desire to embrace Europe and NATO, WTTW News reported.
Immigration Status Clouds the Celebration
The gathering also took place amid uncertainty over immigration status. Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainians had been set to expire on October 19, a deadline that affected roughly 101,000 Ukrainians living in the United States under the program, according to St. Louis Magazine. Spectrum News reported that the October 19 deadline was followed by a temporary extension, leaving the program’s precise current status unsettled across the accounts.
The uncertainty has also affected access to driver’s licenses. Ukrainians in Missouri have encountered problems when TPS-related documents were not accepted or updated, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Spectrum News reported that Missouri’s Department of Revenue was working with the federal Department of Homeland Security to address the problem; some Ukrainians have still been unable to renew their licenses, according to St. Louis Magazine. Local advocate Charlie Brennan raised awareness about the possible TPS expiration and license-renewal refusals. His efforts led to a workaround that allowed some Ukrainians to keep their driving privileges in Missouri, St. Louis Magazine reported.
One Immigrant's Years-Long Wait
Sofiya Melnychuk-Wilson’s experience illustrates some of the individual consequences of that uncertainty. She has lived in St. Louis for nearly seven years, after first coming to the United States as a high school exchange student from Kolomyia, and earned a journalism degree at Lindenwood University. After graduating high school, she was required to spend two years in Ukraine sharing information about the United States. She spent 20 months there before fleeing Russian attacks, and immigration officials told her she still owes four additional months, according to St. Louis Magazine.
Melnychuk-Wilson has struggled to find an employer willing to accommodate the uncertainty around her work authorization. She said knowing people and persistently asking them can help navigate the bureaucracy.
For the Hrynchyshyns and people such as Melnychuk-Wilson, Yushchenko’s visit brought a prominent Ukrainian figure into a neighborhood café. His appearance also connected a local community’s present-day concerns with a longer history of Ukrainian migration and organizing in St. Louis.
