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NEWS
friday, march 4, 2022
‘We want freedom for people to live without fear’ Kansas State students and professors discuss Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impacts ALEXANDER HURLA asst. news editor
Dylan Connell | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Ukrainian K-State students (left to right) Yaroslav Gumennyy, Dima Lysak, Volodymyr Kavetskyi, and Volodymyr Z., spoke during the silent candle march in solidarity with Ukraine at Triangle Park on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Benjamin Voller | COLLEGIAN MEDIA GROUP
Manhattan residents hosted a silent candle march in solidarity with Ukraine through Aggieville on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Yaroslav Gumennyy, freshman in business administration and a Ukrainian native, said his mother does not venture out much from her home following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to CNN, Russia began the assault during the early morning hours of Feb. 24, Eastern European Time. “Nobody wants to get to the risk of getting intercepted by Russian forces on a road, so my mother stays home,” Gumennyy said. Gumennyy’s parents remain in Ukraine, and he said he is keeping in contact with his mother as best he can. “Approximately every four to three hours, I’m calling her because Ukrainian news agencies show all the Russian attacks and the bombing of [the] civilian population,” Gumennyy said. It is similar for Dima Lysak, an undergraduate exchange student from Ukraine studying chemical engineering. “My parents said that they’re not going to leave because this is their home,” Lysak said. “Everyone is afraid, but nonetheless, they fight for their home, for their family and all that stuff. But still, we need help because we’re not as big as Russia: we don’t have so [many] resources.” Some countries, including the United States, have stated they will not send troops to Ukraine because it is not a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member. However, according to CNN, many of the same countries placed sanctions on Russia, limiting its ability to wage war. Although the U.S. is not currently supporting Ukraine with its military, Volodymyr Z., a Ukrainian undergraduate exchange student studying computer science, and Volodymyr Kavetskyi, graduate student in agronomy and a Ukrainian native, as well as Lysak and Gumennyy, all said the K-State and Manhattan community could take other actions to help the Ukrainian people. Recommended actions include donating to legitimate organizations, such as the Red Cross and Save the Children, providing humanitarian aid to refugees. The students also said people could donate to the National Bank of Ukraine’s account for the Ukrainian
Army or contact Kansas senators and state representatives to help place more sanctions on Russia and close airspace to Russian planes. On a more personal note, they suggested people only share truthful and accurate information on social media and ensure people know where their money is going when purchasing items. “To just casual, normal Americans: when you fill your tank with gas, some of this gas is produced from oil extracted in Russian territory,” Volodymyr said. “If you fill your tank with that gas, chances are that you are financing some Russian oligarch who is financing this war.” Carla Martinez Machain, professor of political science, said one goal of the sanctions is to impact the Russian oligarchs negatively. “Even though Russia is not democratic, there’s a core group of people without whose support Putin can’t stay in power,” Martinez Machain said. “That includes the oligarchs who control a lot of the economic resources in Russia. So, a lot of these sanctions are targeted to hurt the economic and financial interests of these people who are keeping Putin in power. And to basically turn them against the war because of the high economic costs that they’re facing.” According to Vera Smirnova, assistant professor of political science and geography, who also has family in both Ukraine and Russia, the sanctions against Russia — meant to target the Russian government and oligarchs — will also negatively impact Russian citizens. “Inflation is already 8.7 percent, the Central Bank has hijacked their interest rate now to almost 20 percent, which has never happened in the history of Russia,” Smirnova said. “People are definitely going to suffer because we’re already seeing the prices for just general groceries have increased 11 percent.” While the invasion leads to high costs — including 752 civilian casualties, as reported by the United Nations on March 1 — Martinez Machain said it’s difficult to fully understand what intentions Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has by invading Ukraine. However, she said his recent speeches give some indication of his goals.
