Here & Now

Ukrainian Expat in Wisconsin Connects with a Friend in Kyiv

Frederica Freyberg:

President Biden’s State of the Union Address this week came as Russia invaded Ukraine. Still, the president wasted no time promoting his domestic agenda with a tour that started in Superior Wednesday. In addition to highlighting funding for infrastructure, Biden spoke to the strength of Ukraine.

Joe Biden:

Putin is now isolated from the world more than ever, and we’ll continue to aid the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and help ease their suffering in the process. When history of this era is written, Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.

Frederica Freyberg:

What Russia’s unprovoked attack brings for people inside Ukraine and their friends outside its borders is fear and anguish and resolve. Marisa Wojcik visited with a Madison resident born in Kyiv speaking with a close family friend who remains in Ukraine.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

The rest of attack we can hear, boom, boom, boom.

Marisa Wojcik:

Vitaly Demyanchuk describes the sound of bombs surrounding his city while he continues work at the Kyiv Heart Institute.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

Hour by hour, we can hear bombing attack, bombing alerts, bombing alert, go to basement, go to basement, go to basement.

Marisa Wojcik:

Vitaly, a heart surgeon and hospital administrator, video chats with his daughter, Polina, living in Sacramento, and his close friend and Madison resident, Gary Tsarovsky.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

To be a good doctor means to serve people, treat people in any conditions.

Marisa Wojcik:

Do you have weapons and ammunition?

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

No, no, no, no, no, no. Our hospital is absolutely demilitarization zone.

Marisa Wojcik:

The outside of the hospital is guarded by Ukrainian soldiers. Inside, around 300 people, patients, staff and their families, take refuge in the basement.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

Our resources are limited.

Marisa Wojcik:

The invasion, he says, took them by surprise.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

We thought that probably it’s just the political games. I didn’t understand what to do. What should I do? I was shocked, truly.

Marisa Wojcik:

Vitaly’s wife and other daughter fled Kyiv just hours before we spoke, to evacuate Ukraine as the bombings kept getting worse.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

Awful, awful, awful. And catastrophic. It’s catastrophic war, becomes more and more unpredictable and more and more dangerous.

Marisa Wojcik:

But Vitaly has no plans to leave.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

First of all, I’m a doctor, a doctor. Secondly, I’m an administrator. The captain should leave his ship last.

Marisa Wojcik:

The politics of the past has prepared many Ukrainians to stay and fight.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

Please remember, 2004, 2014, so we are well prepared. We are well trained. In current situation when Russia have a lot of missiles, ballistic missiles, so we can’t consider any place that’s in Europe safe, without reach.

Polina Demyanchuk:

Sorry, I’m at loss of words, honestly.

Marisa Wojcik:

Polina attended Madison West High School and is now an undergrad at Sacramento State University. Half a world away, she’s worried about her family.

Polina Demyanchuk:

Just, you know, reassure them that it’s going to be okay, but I don’t know if I can even say that because I don’t know. You know, I don’t know if everything’s going to be okay. I only have hope and I think hope has to die last, you know? I always thought my dad was a hero, you know? It’s heartbreaking.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

Together we are strong.

Polina Demyanchuk:

I know, I know. I know. Ukraine is strong and they’re very — you know, they’re very united right now. They’re not going to give up easily, you know?

Gary Tsarovsky:

I think we’re all encouraged by the fact that the world is united with Ukraine and standing behind Ukraine.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

[speaking Ukrainian]

Polina Demyanchuk:

My dad is saying that he thinks that all of this, everything that’s happening in Ukraine, what Ukrainians are doing, it’s much bigger than just fighting for their lives.

Vitaly Demyanchuk:

The Ukrainians understood well that freedom is not free.