Arizona-New Mexico delegation to the Ukraine Action Summit. October 2025

As advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. for the Fall 2025 Ukraine Action Summit, Cactus & Tryzub was honored to take part in this national moment once again. The Summit had continued to grow into one of the most important grassroots engines for sustaining U.S. support for Ukraine, bringing together thousands of Americans who understood that influence in Washington is built through long-term civic commitment, consistent presence, and a united voice - all which we try to buttress with Arizona-wide community engagement projects.

This year, our work in D.C. extended beyond policy advocacy. In partnership with the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA), we brought the “Embroidered With Pain” exhibit to Ukraine House—an installation that carried the voices of Ukrainian survivors of wartime sexual violence into one of the most consequential advocacy gatherings in the United States. Through traditional embroidery, survivors—women, men, and children—encoded their experiences into symbolic language, transforming trauma into testimony and silence into unmistakable truth. What began in Ukraine as a deeply personal act of remembrance had grown into a global call for justice, and we were proud to help carry that message forward.

Organized by the American Coalition for Ukraine, the Summit unfolded over several days of training, strategy-building, and congressional engagement. From October 25–29, participants strengthened their advocacy skills, met with experts, gathered for community events, and took their message directly to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. On October 28, delegates convened at Ukraine House for a reception featuring the exhibit—an opportunity to place survivor stories at the center of a national advocacy effort.

During our meetings on Capitol Hill, our delegation focused on a clear set of advocacy priorities that reflected both the urgency of the moment and the long-term strategy needed to hold Russia accountable. We pressed lawmakers to advance measures ensuring Russia pays for the destruction it inflicted — including the REPO Implementation Act of 2025, which strengthened mechanisms to seize frozen Russian sovereign assets and redirect them toward Ukraine’s recovery, and the Sanctioning Russia Act, which triggered sweeping penalties should Moscow escalate aggression or undermine future agreements. We also emphasized the importance of tightening financial pressure through the PEACE Act, empowering the Treasury to block foreign banks from supporting sanctioned Russian entities, and the SHADOW Fleet Sanctions Act, aimed squarely at dismantling Moscow’s covert tanker network used to evade energy sanctions. Alongside these accountability efforts, we urged Congress to act on the bipartisan resolution demanding the immediate return of abducted Ukrainian children, underscoring that no peace process can be credible while thousands of Ukrainian children remain illegally taken from their families.

For Cactus & Tryzub, the moment reflected the strategic long-game we had committed to since our founding. Grassroots efforts succeed when they become persistent, coordinated, and grounded in real human stories. Recent coverage of the Ukraine Action Summit had underscored the same point: ordinary Americans, when organized and informed, could shift policy conversations that once felt out of reach. Our team was proud to help push that momentum forward.