Ukrainian students discuss war, two years after Russian invasion
Several Alfred University students from Ukraine held an open discussion Friday afternoon where they talked about the Russian invasion of their country and the war that has raged there for two years. 自由的代价. Hidden Truth: What the 新闻 Do Not Talk About” aimed to educate the campus public about the experiences of the Ukrainian people and how the war has impacted the students from Ukraine attending Alfred University.
“This is a serious topic that involves all of us,尤利娅·科瑞巴评论道, a sophomore business analytics major from Kyiv, 乌克兰的首都. 周五的事件, held a day before the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, aimed to refocus on the atrocities of the war, which seems to have drifted from the public’s consciousness.
“人们不再谈论乌克兰了. We don’t get any questions,艾琳娜说。 Zabihailo, a sophomore business and music major from Kyiv. “It hasn’t gotten any better; it has gotten worse.”
“乌克兰战争影响着我们所有人. 对我们来说，揭露真相很重要. 乌克兰人每天都为他们的自由付出代价, 通常是用他们的生命,尤利娅说, as a slide show of photos showing the war’s devastation played on a screen behind her. “我们都经历过战争的恐怖. Nowadays, the news doesn’t always show the truth of what is going on in Ukraine.”
Yuliia’s cousin, Anna Koreiba, is a first-year marketing major at Alfred University. Unlike Yuliia, Anna didn’t have plans to come to the United States to study. While Yuliia enrolled at Alfred for the 2022-23 academic year, 安娜选择在基辅上大学. “我从来没想过出国留学. 我想在家学习，”她说.
The continuing conflict in Ukraine changed Anna’s plans. 不断的攻击, 或者是警告潜在袭击的警报器, 使上课变得困难, with students alternately attending in person or virtually. “We held a lot of classes in shelters, where we studied underground,” Anna said. “这在精神上非常艰难.”
安娜最终加入了尤利娅在阿尔弗雷德, enrolling for classes for the fall 2023 semester, and is one of 14 students from Ukraine attending Alfred University.
A question-and-answer session was offered following the presentation Friday. The students were asked if they go home over breaks to see their loved ones.
“这是我在学校的第二年. I was privileged enough to go home frequently, 在假期,艾琳娜说。, 撒克逊女子网球队的明星. She recalled going home for the winter break from December 2022 to January 2023. “这非常困难. It was very cold, and Russia was trying to cut off our electricity. That was part of their strategy to kill people.”
Anna stayed in Alfred for the recent winter break but hopes to return to Ukraine over the summer. “回家的路上我会很紧张，”她说.
Yuliia added that home “feels more distant” as time passes, and she says she is grateful for her time in Alfred, 远离冲突. 她和Andrii Maltsev, a first-year business analytics major from Nizhyn (a city located about 90 miles northeast of Kyiv), 谈到了俄罗斯对人命的漠视, which has resulted in the loss of countless lives: men, 女性, 孩子们也一样.
Yuliia said the media and the United Nations does not discuss fully the level of the atrocities experienced by the Ukrainian people. 她指的是布查市, 位于基辅以西, which early in the war was under Russian occupation for more a month. Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces killed more than 1,400名城市居民, 包括数十名儿童.
“Men and 女性 were tortured and killed, and children forced to watch. 人们走在街上, 寻找食物, 俄国人就会射杀他们,尤利娅说. “Thousands of souls have been lost because Russia doesn’t follow the rules of war. They shell critical infrastructure and target places where people live.”
“What (the Russian military) is doing in my region is unimaginable. 他们见到谁就杀谁. They don’t care whether it’s a woman or a child. 即使是动物，”安德里说.
“有很多情感上的伤害. All night there are alerts; you can’t sleep. Even when missiles don’t hit the ground near your home, you still suffer. 乌克兰没有安全的地方. 那里的人永远不会和以前一样.”
The students were asked how long they believe the Ukrainian resistance to Russia will last, and if there will come a point where the country will give up the battle. The questioner pointed specifically to the recent taking of the city of Avdiivka by Russian forces.
Yuliia said Ukraine’s retreat from Avdiivka was done solely to save soldiers’ lives and any notion that the Ukrainian people’s resolve is reflective of Russian propaganda.
“Yes, we need more manpower, but we need more ammunition and weapons. They (Russians) have the advantage of not caring about their soldiers’ lives,” she said. “We will continue fighting for as long as is needed, for as long as we’re alive.”
“If Russia stops fighting, the war ends,” Alina added. “If we stop fighting, Russia occupies our country. 我们别无选择，只能继续战斗.”