‘People are preparing for the worst,’ Harvard scholar with relatives in Ukraine says
"Relatives of mine are taking classes in self-defense and shooting, just kind of learning how to defend themselves."
Ukraine:
Ukrainians are “preparing for the worst” amid rising fears Russia could ratchet up its aggression, a Harvard scholar said Tuesday, as the White House began referring to Russian troop deployments in Eastern Ukraine as an “invasion.”
“People are trying to stay as calm as possible, but at the same time people are preparing for the worst,” said Oleh Kotsyuba, manager of publications at Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute, who has family in southern Ukraine. “Relatives of mine are taking classes in self-defense and shooting, just kind of learning how to defend themselves and their families’ homes.”
Though the situation remains tense, he said in an interview Tuesday, no one’s fleeing. “Everyone is staying put and basically willing to fight,” Kotsyuba said. “Of course it’s extremely distressing. And there are many of us here or in Ukraine who still suffer from PTSD” dating back to 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
“We’re just afraid the scale of the new aggression could be much bigger,” Kotsyuba said. “So far 14,000 Ukranians have already died in this fight” in recent years. The hope, he continued, is that western powers don’t sit idly by as Ukranians suffer.
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