International students from Ukraine gathered outside of Parks Library Monday afternoon to spread awareness about the turmoil in their country.

Shalika Khindurangala, whose parents were activists in the Ukrainian protests against their president, said she waited for months for the situation in her home country to be solved. The senior in chemistry decided to take action on Wednesday after 26 people died and hundreds were injured after President Yanukovych gave police authority to respond to protests in the capital square with deadly force.

Khindurangala and Nataliia Sukhinina, president of the Russian-Speaking Students Association and junior in psychology, handed out yellow and blue ribbons—colors of the Ukrainian flag—and papers detailing what students need to know about the protests in Ukraine.

“The flag of the country is something that brings pride to all of us,” Khindurangala said. “Please go and YouTube it, or read something on the news, go to any website. We are not promoting any side, we are just saying find more information about it so you are aware because awareness is the key to success.”

Protests began in November 2013, when Ukrainian citizens expected Yanukovych to sign trade agreements with the European Union. Instead, Yanukovych announced stronger ties to Russia by accepting a stimulus package. Roughly 350,000 Ukrainian protesters seized the president’s office and the Kiev City Hall in December when Yanukovych announced the abandonment of the agreement with the European Union.

The Ukrainian Parliament voted Saturday in favor of impeaching Yanukovych after months of turmoil. Yanukovych’s whereabouts remain unknown today. A new presidential election will be held May 25.

“We are very proud of those people who stood up for their rights. We want to support those people who sacrificed their lives back in Ukraine,” Sukhinina said. “We are trying to reach those people who can influence and make peace. We want the people to stay in peace.”

Khindurangala said even Iowa State students who may not have direct ties to Ukraine should care about the events in Ukraine, citing fundraisers and awareness events held by ISU students for the Philippines and Haiti.

Khindurangala and Volodymyr Sukhinin, graduate student in mathematics, who helped Khindurangala organize the awareness event, said that their on-campus event was not simply a celebration of the impeachment of the president.

“No, we are not celebrating entire success because there’s no such thing—the country’s just starting to take its baby steps towards progress and success,” Khindurangala said. “We are not promoting more revolutions because we know when people are dying and that is not okay, but at the same time if it’s about freedom and pride and for our civil rights, then you should uprise and you should get up and say no to these things.”

Sukhinin said there is still much progress to be made for the Ukrainian government and that there will be more scrutiny of the government now than during the revolution.

“We need to spend a lot of time to set up this democratic way. People are watching closely what’s going on so no one can initiate the same negative things that were going on,” Sukhinin said. “The idea is that the leaders of the protest should be in the government because they have the major support and trust in the population. People don’t want to see the old faces.”

Sukhinin said he hopes the citizens of Ukraine will have more of a voice in their government in the future.

“We just hope. It’s mainly hope,” Khindurangala said.