By: Christopher Garrett
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.— Anatolii Nezgoduk, a University of Arkansas foreign exchange student, is having a hard time focusing on his studies.
He said it is difficult to have a normal campus life while watching war unfold in his home country, Ukraine.
Nezgoduk is an agronomy major at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. But this semester he is studying plant sciences under the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program at the University of Arkansas.
It’s interesting being in Arkansas Nezgoduk said, “from one side it’s like another world, but also there are a lot of similarities. [For example], People are really friendly.”
Originally from the Cherkasy province in central Ukraine, Nezgoduk has been living in the country’s capital Kyiv for the last three years before coming to the United States this semester.
For more than a month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accelerated his invasion of Ukraine, adding stress and anxiety to Nezgoduk’s workload.
He said he’s trying to “keep well,” however, with his family and relatives stuck in Ukraine it has been difficult.
The fighting is always on Nezgoduk’s mind.
“I know many friends and people who are staying in occupied territories. It is really dangerous,” he said. “In some cities like Kharkiv and [parts] of Kyiv it looks like
1941,” which is the last time Europe was seemingly under a similar attack.
Nezgoduk said from some sides Putin’s invasion looks like a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
“Russian people unfortunately, are destroying civil buildings and infrastructure,” he said. “There are a lot of cases [where] they are killing civil people, so it’s close to genocide.”
Before the recent Ukrainian invasion, Nezgoduk thought of Putin as a a logical man, but, since the conflict started, he characterized him as a “madman” and a “fascist.”
In regard to the war, Nezgoduk wants the Russian people to know, “Your country and your culture will have much more harmful effect[s] than even Ukraine from this conflict.”
While no one knows the long term effects of this conflict yet, it is true that the Russian economy has tanked with the Russian ruble now worth less than a penny against the U.S. dollar, according to the White House.
As most university students gear up for spring break, for Nezgoduk it will be different because of the Russian invasion and how it will progress.
As for Nezgoduk, things look less certain with the relative future and closing of the semester, he’s not sure if he will return to help his home country in the ongoing fight for freedom or stay in the Natural State to continue his academic endeavors.