Miami, Miami Beach, Laguna Beach and Long Beach Launch Symbolic Ukraine Support Efforts After Russian Invasion

Cities React While Odessa Takes Missile Fire

In 2022, days after Russian missiles struck Odessa, Ukraine, in an attack Russia claimed targeted an oil refinery and fuel storage facilities, according to The Washington Post, the mayors of two Florida cities got on a video call with the man running that battered port city.

Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, dressed in military fatigues and flanked by his staff, met virtually on a Wednesday with then-Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and then-Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, according to the Miami Herald. The pitch: make Odessa a "sister city" to both Florida towns.

"In this difficult time during the war it's very essential for us to know the world is supporting us," Trukhanov said through a translator, per the Herald.

The Miami Beach City Commission voted the same day to formalize the partnership. Gelber said it would mean raising money for supplies, plus cultural exchanges and diplomatic trips down the road. Suarez told the Herald that Miami would do the same.

"It's hard to look away from what's happening in this country right now and I feel like we should be giving our residents and businesses an opportunity to help the freedom-loving people of Ukraine and Odessa," Gelber said.

Who's Actually Moving Money

Miami Beach's sister-city program dates back to 1959 and has been run by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce since 2019. Past partners include Fujisawa, Japan, and Cascais, Portugal. According to Robin Jacobs, the chamber's immediate past chairperson at the time, the Odessa deal was different because it was built around humanitarian aid from day one.

The mechanics at the time: donations could be phoned in to the chamber, with an online portal in the works. Money raised was to go toward food and medicine, which the Israeli rescue group United Hatzalah agreed to fly into Ukraine, Jacobs said. The chamber was also coordinating with the Odessa Peace Fund and the Odessa Regional Council.

Gelber said the city might also accept cryptocurrency donations, noting Suarez's role at the time as a crypto ambassador for Miami, though he said Thursday the details weren't finalized. Suarez, who was then president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, made a point during the call of noting that he and Gelber were from different parties but united on backing Ukraine.

Everything else described in these announcements, the diplomatic trips and cultural exchanges, was aspirational and not measurable at the time.

Lights and Sunflowers on the West Coast

Three thousand miles away, Laguna Beach, California, took a different approach: symbolism without a fundraising mechanism attached, at least not at first.

Then-Mayor Sue Kempf had the city's lifeguard tower, the most recognized structure in town, lit blue and yellow on a Wednesday at dusk, according to the LA Times. "The lifeguard tower is probably the most iconic piece of architecture we have in our town, and when important things happen, periodically we will light it up," Kempf told the paper.

The next morning, at least 50 residents gathered outside Laguna Beach City Hall for a group photo, dressed in blue and yellow and holding sunflowers, a flower associated with Ukrainian resistance. The gathering was organized by Denny Freidenrich, then 73, a retired marketing executive who had organized similar public shows of solidarity before, including after George Floyd's death in May 2020.

"People, in real time, are seeing the horrors of war," Freidenrich told the crowd, per the LA Times. "A picture is worth a thousand words, but I want to amend that just a bit to four words: Laguna stands with Ukraine."

City Clerk Ann Marie McKay said residents had been showing up at her office asking what the city could do. "It's important the city does what it can to say our hearts are with them," she said.

Long Beach, California, took the lighting approach too. Then-Mayor Robert Garcia announced several city landmarks would be lit in blue and yellow. "Our community is united by the values of peace, democracy and self-determination," Garcia said in a statement reported by the Long Beach Post. "Long Beach stands firmly with the international community in support of Ukraine's defense of their country and heritage."

What This Did and Didn't Do

None of these four cities announced a specific dollar figure raised, a timeline for aid delivery, or a formal budget appropriation tied to Ukraine relief at the time. The Miami Beach chamber's donation drive was real and had an actual delivery partner in United Hatzalah, which put it a step ahead of pure symbolism. The lighting displays and photo gatherings in Laguna Beach and Long Beach were exactly what they looked like: public expressions of sympathy with no direct financial mechanism described in either city's announcement.

Skeptics of feel-good municipal gestures pointed out that lighting a tower or holding