North Charlotte Today

Many college students see the end of the semester as a chance to go home and visit their families, but the war in Ukraine is keeping students who are studying abroad in limbo.

Slava Ohnov, from Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, is a student athlete on the swimming team at Wingate University. Since he can’t go home, he must make new plans.

“It’s been really hard to believe,” Ohnov told WBTV. “It was just it was shocking. I didn’t know what to say, how to act, what to do. The only thing I was doing is waking up, reading the news, texting my family, texting my friends.”

Ohnov is majoring in criminal justice and hopes to get a law enforcement internship this summer, according to WBTV. The university and some friends have offered him a place to stay.

That doesn’t ease his mind when it comes to his family’s safety, though, and it limits him to virtual contact.

“Well, they’re still scared,” he said. “I do know (the) area where my family is, there’s no Russian military, it’s just Ukrainian. But it’s still like, I [don’t] feel safe for my family. I can’t tell anybody that my family is safe, … that would be lying.”

Ohnov said his mother Viktoria and his younger brother Danil haven’t left their home. The schools have closed, so Viktoria is teaching her son at home. Many of his friends, closer to his age, have signed on to protect their country.

“I’m proud of them, I sure am,” Ohnov said. “I also felt really guilty because I’m here so far away from them and not able to help the way that I would like to.”

When it comes to the message he wants to convey to America, Ohnov said it all comes down to freedom.

“Freedom is probably one of the most important things that a person can get and that’s a good reason to fight for,” he said. “Don’t stop caring about things that are going on, don’t stop talking about it, because it’s not over yet.”

Wingate says it is doing what it can to help students like Ohnov.

“Some of these efforts include helping them get social security numbers to work on campus if desired, nominating them for the Institute of International Education’s student emergency funding, providing summer housing on campus if needed, and making sure they are aware of resources available to them,” the university told the news station.