Ukrainian students met Sunday, Feb. 27, in front of Academic Hall, displaying their country's flag and a heart with the same colors to pray for peace.
Three of the students are enrolled at SEMO to study for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), in collaboration with Ukraine’s Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University (VSPU). The fourth is a visiting scholar studying music this semester.
TESOL graduate student Viktoriia Kisil shared the photo with her family and friends over social media to show support for them.
"Our hearts belong to Ukraine," Kisil said. "Physically, we are here, but mentally, we are back at home."
On Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine from three sides after declaring the Donetsk and Luhansk regions independent states. In response, the Ukrainian president has declared martial law to help mobilize against Russia, and thousands of Ukrainians have volunteered for the Territorial Defense Forces for military training.
While the students’ families do not live in the capital where most of the warfare occurred, their family members reported seeing light from explosions and are taking precautions in shelters.
On the first day of the invasion, a cousin in Ukraine told Kisil over the phone that her five-year-old daughter was emotionally shaken.
“[My cousin’s daughter said,] ‘Mom, please, let’s go, they’re gonna shoot, let’s go to the cellar,’” Kisil said.
TESOL graduate Yulia Petlinska said she did not want people to interpret their flag as a protest, despite bearing similarities to demonstrations held across the world last weekend. She said their message behind their photo was different than simply protesting Russia.
"We want peace on our territory and in other countries," Petlinska said. "If it starts with our country, it can happen with any country. We need to be together in this world and protect each other."
Petlinska gave an example of the peace she is hoping for. She said Ukrainians treat Russian prisoners of war humanely: feeding and protecting them.
Petlinska said, "There is no hate back home." She said some young Russian soldiers report feeling misled about their goals in Ukraine. She said the Russian soldiers who walk back to Russia have been wished well by Ukrainians rather than harmed.
"They want to live. We want to live, too," Petlinska said.
Petlinska said SEMO students can help by praying, but TESOL graduate Tetiana Dronova said classmates have already given her words of support.
"They text me all the time, 'I am with you,'" Dronova said.
She said that due to all of the misinformation about the invasion, she felt reassured that Americans seem to share the same narrative she holds.
Viktoriia, Tetiana, and one more Ukrainian student—freshman tennis player Myroslava Zelenchuk—participated in Carpe Diem last November, a SEMO festival during which international students share souvenirs, cuisine, clothing and cultures. In Kisil’s first semester, which was online due to covid, she made a TikTok video for Carpe Diem with variations of traditional clothes, like the Ukrainian attire they wore to carry the flag.
A few years ago, visiting student Daria Hudymenko’s orchestra at Lviv National Music Academy was visited by a music professor who held a concert with them. She asked him afterwards about ways to study music at SEMO.
Hudymenko is from Kryvyi Rih, the same town in central Ukraine where their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was born. She said many of her friends have volunteered for Territorial Defense Forces to help the army, where they might gather food, water and medicine, or cook.
Hudymenko said the most common question people ask Ukrainians is where they are from. She said after she answered this question, people always used to ask, “Is that in Russia?” But now, everybody knows the difference.
It may seem harmless, but Petlinska said the question hurts because it aligns with Vladimir Putin's worldview, which sees Ukraine as part of the disbanded Soviet Union.
"We have here two different nations and two different histories," Petlinska said. "Yeah, we are connected, but we are not the same. We have different languages."
SEMO has collaborated with Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University since 2013, which allows students to earn a TESOL degree in both countries while studying at SEMO. Some SEMO faculty have also taught online class sessions in VSPU.
