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Former exchange student Stepan Orletskyy told Luverne High School Principal Ryan Johnson that he and his family are safe for now, but he’s apprehensive about the future of his home in Ukraine.
“I am afraid of Russian troops coming here — there will be huge damage to my town, and we are not a safe place anymore,” Orletskyy said in a Zoom conversation March 3.
“Now it is a safe place, and a lot of people came and many of us are afraid more people will be killed because they gathered here.”
The Russian military began a full-scale invasion of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Feb. 24.
Orletskyy’s home is in Luzhany, an urban settlement of about 4,800 people near Chernivtsi, about 337 miles to the south and west of the capital.
“They (Russia) actually started attacking us eight years ago when they occupied Crimea and the southeast regions of Ukraine,” Orletskyy said. “It wasn’t like actual war. It wasn’t as bad as it is right now.”
The actual bombing and gun fire in Kyiv are an attempt to control the capital and install a government sympathetic to Russian interests.
Orletskyy said Russian sympathizers who primarily live in eastern Ukraine are led to believe the Russian invasion is “saving Ukraine from itself.”
“It actually sounds ridiculous,” Orletskyy said. “Why would Urkraine — our country tries its best to work on infrastructure, to work on different citizen projects to become a greater country, to become a part of the European Union — attack itself and ruin everything we’ve been working on for years?”
Orletskyy said he and others in Ukraine are uncertain about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions, but he has suspicions about why the Russian military would seize the Ukrainian capital.
“Russia is a huge country and they don’t use all potential they have there,” Orletskyy said. “They try to get more land …. and occupy Kyiv, our capital, so he can put down our government and place his own rules on our land and so on.”
The fighting, instead, has united people in Luzhany, Orletskyy said, and they support current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“He was an actor/comedian before he became president and a lot of people didn’t believe an actor could be a great president,” he said.
“They admire him, respect him … because he would not leave Ukraine. He will stay in Kyiv and try his best to solve the situation. A lot of people changed their minds and believe in him and hope he will make everything end this war soon.”
The U.N. reports more than 1,300 civilian casualties have occurred since the invasion began three weeks ago.
University students like Orletskyy no longer attend college classes, and the city is under a curfew banning anyone on the streets from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The equivalent of the National Guard patrols the streets during the overnight hours.
“They will protect us before the more experienced and qualified Army will come here and protect us,” Orletskyy said.
His family is also helping those fleeing the fighting in Kyiv.
“In my house we have prepared some rooms for people. If they like to stay with us, they are welcome,” he said.
“In my local school, we have made special nets for military objects so they can be covered by those and it would be hard to see them.”
As of Saturday, Orletskyy said his school will begin distance learning and businesses are beginning to reopen.
Orletskyy was a FLEX (Future Leaders EXchange) student during the 2019-20 school year when the pandemic prompted distance learning in March.
He returned home a few weeks later but said his U.S. experience was favorable, albeit short.
“I would be really happy to come to Luverne again,” Orletskyy said.
He said those who are interested in helping could check with the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. for information about what resources are needed for the Ukrainian residents to reclaim their country.