Ukrainian Residents Talk About Ongoing Crisis: 'You Feel Helpless'
When asked about the Russian invasion of her home country of Ukraine, Olena Baryshnik gets right to the point.
“A lot of countries and a lot of people [are] scared, but you can see, Ukraine [is not] scared,” she said. “They are ready to fight.”
Ms. Baryshnik and her boyfriend, Bohdan Dobrovenko, are both native Ukrainians now living and working in Falmouth at Mahoney’s Garden Center. Having previously worked in England through an international job placement agency, the couple decided last year that they wanted to try their luck in the United States and wound up in Falmouth after sending in some applications for an American placement.
Now in the United States, they both worry daily about their friends and family, all of whom are still in their home country in the midst of a Russian invasion. Ms. Baryshnik said they are from a village called Bratske, located a few hours north of Mykolaiv, also spelled Nikolaev, a city in southern Ukraine. Russian attacks have plagued the area in past weeks but have stalled as of late thanks to Ukrainian counterattacks.
“It’s really hard to stay here when you know all your family and all your friends [are] unsafe,” Ms. Baryshnik said during a phone interview. “There’s nothing you can do, and it’s a very bad feeling every time. You feel helpless. It’s bad.”
Both Ms. Baryshnik and Mr. Dobrovenko were invited to speak at Waquoit Congregational Church’s Sunday service on March 27. The couple told the congregation they came to Falmouth from Ukraine in September to work at Mahoney’s and never imagined that something like this would happen.
“It just was crazy,” Mr. Dobrovenko said. “We cannot sleep because it’s happened.”
While their families are safe at this time, the level of danger is still concerning. The village they lived in is almost destroyed, Mr. Dobrovenko said, and people spend a lot of time underground in shelters because of ongoing bombings.
“We want to say thank you, that people like you come here and know what happened to our country and help us and our country,” Mr. Dobrovenko said. “I don’t know what to even say but really, thank you, guys.”
Mr. Dobrovenko explained how he feels torn, saying that while he wants to go back to his home country and help, he knows he does not want to fight and thinks he could be of better assistance on this side of the Atlantic.
“I really don’t know how I can help,” he said. “I don’t want to fight against people. I don’t want to kill someone, even if he came in my country and wants to do something. It’s a stupid idea to kill him for [that].”
“It’s such a hard time for Ukraine,” Ms. Baryshnik told the congregation. “It’s not a Ukrainian war.…People in Ukraine feel like it’s a stranger coming into a house where people live and destroying everything, killing everyone.…I think what you can show on TV is just 50 percent [of] what’s really going on in Ukraine.”
Having been in Ukraine just last summer, Ms. Baryshnik said that the current state of affairs was simply unimaginable back then.
“Everything was good,” she said. “It was summer, I [was] enjoying the weather. We [bought an] apartment. It wasn’t believable this summer. We had fun with our friends; everyone was enjoying life and no one was thinking about something like this happening.”
Now, Ms. Baryshnik said she is not sure if her family will be able to get out of the country safely.
“When something like this happens, you feel completely broken and destroyed, and you cannot even make a plan,” she said. “I asked my mom, ‘Okay, Mom, what do you want to do? You want to [leave] the village or what?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know, Olena.’ Because if they start to move, they could die. Russian soldiers [are killing] all people who try to [leave] the country. It’s really so, so hard to make a plan.”
Ms. Baryshnik said she communicates with her family mainly through social media, but it is difficult because in Ukraine there are only specific time slots during which people can go above ground and access the internet.
For Ms. Baryshnik, every day is hard. She cannot enjoy her life, she said, because of how helpless she feels.
“A lot of people speak with me and they tell me they support Ukraine,” she said. “Of course, I’m so happy about that. It’s nice hearing supportive words and to not feel alone here.”
But at the same time, she wishes that individuals would realize that they, even as singular people, have the power to make change.
“I just wish people would not be scared about this and [say] how they think and really help,” she said. “Not just by talking, saying ‘Oh yeah, we support Ukraine.’ No, you must do more. A lot of people ask, but what can we do more? Especially Russian people, come on; it’s like one and a half million people, and you think you can’t do anything? You can. You can. Even if it’s dangerous, you must do it.”
“Russia fights with Ukraine, but Ukraine fights for the whole world because if Ukraine just gave up now, it [would] mean nothing is right in our world,” Ms. Baryshnik said. “Ukrainian people just want freedom and just want a happy life. And just one person or one country wants to control everything? It’s not right. So it’s a really good way to show the whole world freedom and what it means.”