COLUMBUS, Ohio — Les Yakymchuk could not believe it. He could not believe that his country was truly under attack. He’s from Ukraine, but he watched the beginning of the current conflict erupt from Athens, Ohio. That’s where he’s a student at Ohio University.
“I was in shock,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
But that feeling of helplessness didn’t last long. He and fellow OU classmate and Ukrainian, Olena Zenchenko, traveled to Kyiv to deliver supplies for both medical and military needs.
“I brought some lenses for guns from Poland, and I gave those lenses to one guy from our military, and this guy’s dead now,” Yakymchuk said.
He admits the time he’s been back in Ukraine has taken a toll on his mental health. He managed to help his mother get to a relatively safer area, but he is staying in Kyiv, where the sirens have become a familiar sound.
“I can’t explain what I feel now, but it’s just anger,” he said. “I’m smiling because it’s like my protection, emotional protection, but I don’t know what to say because it makes no sense for me.”
What does make sense is being home. He says he couldn’t be anywhere else. And so he’s determined to stay there for however long it takes to see things through, helping in whatever way he can.
“If I can hold a gun, and if my country needs me to hold a gun, if I can be useful with this, I will,” he said.
His determination and efforts, along with those of Zenchenko, are being documented by two fellow OU classmates, Devin Chen and Akash Pamarthy.
“This is our skill, and if we can use our skill for spreading awareness, it is the right thing to do,” Pamarthy said.
He filmed his friends’ efforts to gather up supplies, pack and get back to Ukraine to help. He released it as a short documentary on YouTube.
“It was a very thin line being a friend and also being a filmmaker or a photojournalist because I wanted them to know that I was there for them, not just like me shooting the film,” Pamarthy said.
Pamarthy said his goal is to raise awareness, especially among students on the OU campus. He said many are woefully uninformed as to what is happening in Ukraine.
“It’s pure war, I mean, it’s not even war, it’s madness,” he said. “For Les, being in that situation where his mom is in a warzone, I mean, I would run back to my country, too, help my mom, help my country in any way. I completely understand why Les would go back.”
For Les, it’s as simple as – Ukraine is home. And there’s just nowhere else he could be right now.
“It’s just life without home, and, for me, it’s impossible,” he said. “So if everybody will leave Ukraine, what will happen to our country? Who are left here? So, yeah, I don’t want to leave.”
So he’s staying, still helping with supplies, and filming when and where he can. The goal for all students involved is to use their footage to create a longer documentary, focusing on the war in Ukraine, its impact and those who are helping.
“I have to do something to feel like I’m helping,” he said. “And what’s important is a lot of people in Ukraine are doing the same.”