Oregon State Student from Ukraine Describes Horrors of War

As millions of people are fleeing Ukraine or in hiding from the bombing, an Oregon State University student from Ukraine describes what is happening to his homeland. 

Sergiy Greblov speaks with strong emotion, and palpable anger.  “I was pretty much just a regular person and I was never seeking war. I thought that it’s really stupid to fight war for borders.”

The international student from Kiev, Ukraine is studying at O.S.U., but right now he’s horrified at what’s happening to his home nation every day.

“The death, destruction and murder just became something normal. To me, the scope of the death, the tragedy is overwhelming and just horrible.”

He says when the attack on Ukraine started, people sprang into action, trying to help.

“We tried to find cars for people who don’t have them to escape the cities, we try to help people who are not able to get them from general channels.”

But the horror and the deaths have had another consequence.  He says, Ukrainians are setting their political differences aside and uniting, as their country is under siege. And he says, Ukrainians are also uniting in their defiance of Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

“When the war came, we just became a nation. (Putin) actually created us as a really powerful force that can resist.”

You can hear more of his story Sunday March 13th at 7 A.M. on Speaking Freely with Annette Newell, or on our Speaking Freely podcast, on KXL.com.