Rehina Solodovnik, a 20-year-old student in Ukraine, also tutored Russian students online before the war. One sent her a message after the fighting began: ”I’m so sorry for our government. I know they won’t apologize to you for whatever damage they’ve done to your country, but I will instead. ”
Courtesy of Rehina Solodovnik
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Courtesy of Rehina Solodovnik
Rehina Solodovnik, a 20-year-old student in Ukraine, also tutored Russian students online before the war. One sent her a message after the fighting began: ”I’m so sorry for our government. I know they won’t apologize to you for whatever damage they’ve done to your country, but I will instead. “
Courtesy of Rehina Solodovnik
Before the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, 20-year-old Rehina Solodovnik described her life in the riverside city of Dnipro as idyllic.
“Before it all happened, I believed I had the best life possible. I have a loving family – my grandmother, my aunt, my parents, my younger brother was born last year,” she said. speak. “I have a part-time job as an English tutor.”
Some of the people she tutors are Russian, who have connected with her online, from across the border. When war broke out, her teaching stopped. But she still receives text messages from the Russian.
“I remember this message very well. This girl said, ‘I’m so sorry to our government. I know they won’t apologize to you for any damage they caused to your country, but I will instead,” recalls Solodovnik. “And that made me cry.”
More than 1 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland in the 10 days since the Russian invasion. Yet more than 40 million people remain in Ukraine, many struggling with the decision to stay or leave.
Wish to stay
When I spoke to Solodovnik on Tuesday, she said she was in Dnipro, a city of about 1 million people on the Dnieper River. So far the city has not been affected by the fighting.
However, her bag is packed just in case.
Solodovnik is also a student. She is in her final semester at Dnipro National University, where she studies linguistics and speaks seven languages - Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
One of her teachers at the university was the American Michael Sampson.
He is a professor at the University of St. John in New York, who went to Ukraine last fall to spend a year as a Fulbright scholar.
When war broke out, he left in January, moving to Warsaw, Poland. The university asked if he wanted to continue teaching students online.
“I said, ‘Sure, even if there’s only one person there, I’d be happy to talk to her,'” he notes. “What I found out was my role now. now almost a consultant. Just talk to people, let them talk and release their frustrations, release their fears.”
In addition to teaching college students, he also works with several elementary schools.
“My research is with children in grades two through seven and I’m trying out some techniques that I think will improve their English learning and English writing,” he says.
American Michael Sampson, a professor at the University of St. John in New York, spent the year in Ukraine as a teacher and a researcher. When Russia was about to invade, he went to Poland. He is currently assisting Ukrainians who have fled their homeland to Poland.
Courtesy of Michael Sampson
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Courtesy of Michael Sampson
Sampson is married to a Ukrainian woman, Alona, 47 years old. She grew up in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, so speaks Russian and understands Russia.
But younger Ukrainians – who were born after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 and Ukraine became an independent country – feel no connection to Russia.
“I would say that young children are anti-Russian,” he said. “I asked 25 young people, ‘Should I learn Ukrainian or Russian?’ And 100 percent, all 25, said, ‘Let’s learn Ukrainian.’ “
Sampson says he’s not surprised how fiercely Ukrainians are resisting Russian aggression.
“They are determined to defend their country,” he said. They’ll take it, they’ll take the weapon. “Someone told me that the Russians would probably take (the capital) Kyiv in the next few days, and I said, ‘Well, they can take it, but they’re going to have 3 million people who don’t want them there. ‘”
The war ended in
Meanwhile, Rehina Solodovnik is among those determined to stay in her home town of Dnipro, although she admits tensions are rising.
“I’m just glued to the screen watching the news 24/7. And this makes me tired in many ways,” she said.
Then, on Friday, she woke up to the news that the Russians had attacked and seize the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – less than 100 miles south of her house.
She decided to leave Ukraine. On Saturday night, she was traveling in western Ukraine with her aunt and grandmother, towards the border with Poland.
Michael Sampson was waiting to greet her.
Greg Myre is NPR’s national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.
