On Thursday 24th of February Vitali Yalahuzian, a second-year journalism student at the University of Sheffield, was on his way to the Newsday, when he found out that Russia had attacked his home country – Ukraine.
He said: “I felt really bad that I am stuck in Sheffield, but going back would be risking my life. I felt that I have to do something. I’ve decided to protest. I’ve protested once before in my life, so I had no plan. I created a Facebook event and printed out a Ukrainian flag. On the other side I printed a donation link to a charity helping the Ukrainian army. I went to the Town Hall in Sheffield and stood there on my own for an hour.
“The next protest, I think on Friday, was five or six of us. It was a lot nicer to have someone by my side. A lot of people came up to us ask questions and expressed their support. Then, I created a Facebook group called Stand for Ukraine Sheffield. Next protest was on Sunday and there were hundreds of people. I didn’t expect that at all. Ukrainians at the protest had a chance to speak to the crowd and express how horrific these events are for us and for our families.
“It’s so nice to see some understanding among people who don’t have pretty much anything to do with Ukraine.They could ignore it, say: it’s not my country, it’s not my problem. But they were just so touched by what’s happening that they decided to help.”
Viatli is in Sheffield but he was born and raised in Kyiv, the capital city ofUkraine. His parents and friends are still there. While in many places in Ukraine the internet and data are disrupted, Vitali was lucky enough to be able to keep in touch with his parents.
“My parents are separated so I call my dad and my mum separately at least two times a day, just checking on them. We text each other throughout today. Just talking to me and sharing their experience helps them mentally to get rid of at least a small portion of the pressure and stress they feel.”
But his parents are not the only stressed ones. War in his hometown is affecting Vitaly as well. He still tries to help his relatives and friends as much as he can, for example by supporting his mum with shopping.
“I had an absolutely terrible sleeping schedule since this whole thing started. For the first two days I didn’t sleep at all and then I started falling asleep for like an hour, maybe two hours in the morning. I knew my mom was running out of long-lasting foods and drinking water so during one of these sleepless nights I spent hours on social media, Google Maps and volunteering websites trying to find supermarkets that have products she needs. I was planning the safest route for her to get there and to get back.
“I called her in the morning and sent her all the details and screenshots. She was texting me throughout her little journey to the shop, letting me know she is doing fine, the supermarket is open and that she got back. Although I am hundreds of miles away from her, there are still ways I can help her out.”
One of the things that really supported Vitali’s mum was seeing a Ukrainian flag on the Town Hall in Sheffield. A Ukrainian lecturer at the University of Sheffield wrote a letter to the City Council and he proposed they have a Ukrainian flag on the Town Hall building. Vitali took a picture of it and sent it to his mum.
“When I told my mum there’s a Ukrainian flag in my city in the UK, she didn’t believe me. That’s why I took a picture and sent it to my mum. She was incredibly happy. She heard that the international community is supporting Ukraine right now but having this more real scenario and example of support and seeing that quite a big city has a Ukrainian flag, made her feel the support. I think it was the most important thing for me out of all the protests.”
Even though the international community supports Ukraine through sanctions, protests and donations, Vitali believes there is still much more that could be done.
He said: “We get a lot of financial and military support which is great, but no one really wants to get involved. Everyone’s saying: we’re going to give you tons of money, tons of weapons and you step for yourself, which is not great. The number one thing that Ukraine needs right now is a no-fly zone. The shelling and the air bombings are so severe that in order to a lot of civilian lives we ideally need a country that would secure the sky to reduce the damage from Russian offensive.”
How you can support Ukraine in the UK:
1) Financially support the army or the charities providing humanitarian support through organisations such as Ukrainian Red Cross or Special account of National Bank of Ukraine: https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi?fbclid=IwAR0mjYQnYMFU6AsziImwuVU3s3-MIop593AUzXzGs2QqAfqzmKcrcyYPEjU
2) Donating long- lasting food like past or canned food, as well as medicine. Ukraine has received plenty of clothes and blankets so they are not needed at the moment.
3) Writing to a local MP or councillor to pressure them to get involved more and help Ukraine by taking in some refugees and supporting the army through donating weapons and pushing for a no-fly zone
4) Keep reading even a bit of news about Ukraine to stay updated, raise awareness and put pressure on organisations, companies and politicians