Russia’s assault on Ukraine doesn’t differentiate between military and civilian targets as it seeks to break the will of the Ukrainian people to resist. So far, despite the death and destruction wreaked upon the people of Ukraine, there’s been no surrender … not even close. Ukraine certainly has it share of heroes, from soldiers on the front lines to citizens in cities and towns under bombardment to a committed diaspora all over the world.
One of those heroes resides in the Lehigh Valley. Marta Fedoriw of North Whitehall Township. Born in a refugee camp in Germany, she came to America at the age of seven. Schooled in both the old Ukrainian traditions and the new American way, she became an American patriot but not forgetting her heritage, also a freedom fighter and leading contributor to the health and well-being of Ukraine. She is a tireless leader of a movement to reclaim the approximately 20,000 Ukrainian children taken by the Russians from her native country.
Marta was chairman of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America initiative to return those children to their rightful homes, families and communities. She is now serving as a board member of UKRAINIANChildren.org doing the same work. As part of the Return Ukraine’s Children program, Marta initiated the Children Praying for Children event held annually commemorating International Children’s Day – June 1 – where children all over America are encouraged to pray for the return of their Ukrainian counterparts.
Marta works with international organizations, legal experts, and humanitarian partners to track, locate and reunite the taken children with their families. They raise awareness in the United States and abroad, lobbying for legislative support, and organizing community events to support displaced Ukrainian families.
My own experience working with Marta Fedoriw dates to the mid-1980s when Marta was part of a group of Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Ukrainian-Americans who were promoting the idea that Ukraine really was a sovereign, independent country and not a part of Russia. At the time many people thought Ukraine was simply an area inside Russia, if they even knew there was such a place called Ukraine.
Marta and her colleagues were out to convince members of Congress that Ukraine was a distinct national entity, that the history of the Ukrainian people was real and different from Russia and that Ukrainian history actually preceded that of Russia.
As a result of Marta’s and colleagues’ lobbying Congress, the bipartisan, House-Senate Baltic States – Ukraine Caucus was formed, I was the original House chairman and we advocated for Ukraine’s independence years before the Soviet Union disintegrated and Ukraine was set free. Today, the Congressional Ukraine Caucus on the House side has some 100 members and is active in boosting support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
In 1990, when Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union and Russia, Marta and her husband Ihor, committed to restore the Grand Hotel in Lviw, to its former Central European style and grandeur. Sadly due to the corruption of those times during the conversion of the country from communism to freedom, their yeoman effort was for naught. For the Fedoriws, a major financial commitment was lost in the chaos.
More recently, Marta was my guide and translator for a fact-finding trip I took to Ukraine a few months before the Russian invasion in February of 2022. She set up meetings with Ukrainian leadership of the “memory movement” both in the private institution realm and in the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament). The feeling of national pride and independence was in the air… all the while knowing that the Russian army were massing troops and tanks at Ukraine’s borders.
At a United Nations Conference on The Gross Human Rights Violations due to The Aggression Against Ukraine, held on February of 2023, Marta Fedoriw was a panelist discussing the Violations of the Rights of the Child as related to the abduction of Ukraine’s children by Russia. In April of 2025, Marta was interviewed on CNN regarding the abducted children of Ukraine and her work promoting their return.
In addition to her leadership of the Return Ukraine’s Children program, I am proud of the fact that Marta serves actively on the Advisory Board of the recently formed Remembrance Society where I serve as chairman.
Marta Fedoriw’s leadership and public advocacy have inspired many in the Ukrainian-American community and beyond to take action over the last half century. Marta Fedoriw’s lifelong commitment demonstrates that one person engaging in grassroots activism can make a difference. No one has done more to educate and galvanize the American people to support Ukraine and its historically just cause of freedom and independence.
This is a contributed opinion column. Don Ritter represented the Lehigh Valley in Congress from 1979-1993. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author, and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. Do you have a perspective to share? Learn more about how we handle guest opinion submissions at themorningcall.com/opinions.
