Many Ukrainians in Connecticut have had sleepless nights over the past week.
Vasyl Matsyuk is among them. He’s a 32-year old student at Yale Divinity School. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was twelve.
Matsyuk spoke with Connecticut Public Radio’s Diane Orson on day six of the Russian invasion. Here are highlights from their conversation:
On watching the war from afar
The feelings have been very much like a roller coaster, going from shock and anger to hope and again back to fear. It’s been an emotional vortex of feelings.
On being Ukrainian-American
It’s only been within the last year that I realized myself to be a Ukrainian-American. Maybe it's the political situation that kind of solidifies identity.
Previously maybe I thought of myself as Ukrainian living in America. But after 20 years, you realize - I’m not exactly fully Ukrainian because I’m not in Ukraine fighting this war. And at the same time, I’m also not American because I have this heritage, this responsibility to do what I can for my people.
On a spiritual component of the conflict
There are two stories that we need to be telling. There’s the story of the horrendous evil that’s happening as we speak. And that leads me, and I believe it should lead others, to lament and to grieve.
But then there’s the second story. And that’s the story of hope. As someone who is an aspiring theologian, I think we must talk about the future. We need to imagine, and not just imagine, but believe that in the end Ukraine will stand. It will overcome this horrendous evil and it will rebuild.
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