MU Ukrainian student, girlfriend finally reunited after Russian invasion: 'I have no words'
Draped in a Ukrainian flag and bearing flowers, Vlad Sazhen on Friday night greeted his girlfriend Alina Rohulia with hugs and kisses upon her arrival at Columbia Regional Airport.
They were reunited after seven months apart. Rohulia had flown from Krakow, Poland, to Chicago, to Columbia.
Sazhen is a University of Missouri student from Kharkiv, Ukraine, studying aerospace engineering. Rohulia, also from Kharkiv, will begin her studies in biomedical engineering at MU in a few weeks. Both are 19.
Rohulia and her family left Kharkiv early in the Russian invasion for the relative safety of Poltava, Ukraine. Sazhen and Rohulia had been trying to find a way to get her out of Ukraine. She recently acquired her visa in Poland.
More: Girlfriend of MU Ukrainian student acquires visa and airline ticket to come to Columbia
MU was instrumental in reuniting the couple on campus, with assistance from International Student and Scholar Services.
Rohulia carried a tiny Pikachu backpack she had borrowed from a cousin, calling it embarrassing.
"I have no words," she said of being back with Sazhen and out of Ukraine. "I'm so happy. I can't describe my feelings right now. It's just unreal. I just can't believe it."
She was asked about the assistance from MU.
"I'm so grateful," Rohulia said. "It's an enormous amount of work everyone has done for us."
Sazhen echoed the idea.
"We are incredibly grateful," he said. "We want every Ukrainian family to be reunited."
They expected to be apart just four months, Sazhen said.
"It is so surreal," he said. "We've been separated for seven months. It was a very heartbreaking experience on the 24th of February. People in the Midwest are so kind and eager to help you. We appreciate every charity that has donated to us and that has donated to Ukraine."
They each have received three-year, non-resident scholarships, allowing both to attend MU as full-time, degree-seeking students. Sazhen's status as an exchange student has been extended for now.
A donation to MU's Ukrainian Emergency Fund paid for Rohulia's airfare to the U.S.
Sazhen was kind of jittery on Thursday, the day before Rohulia's arrival, to the extent that he was unsure of what day it was.
"I'm very excited and very nervous," Sazhen said Thursday. "A lot of things will be happening in a short amount of time and most of them are out of my control. I just have to wait for Alina to arrive."
Rohulia was to board her plane in Poland at 5 a.m. Friday our time for the 10-hour flight to Chicago, then catch her connecting flight to Columbia.
He spoke with her Thursday afternoon, a few hours before being interviewed.
"I told her to go to bed earlier because she has to get up," Sazhen said.
He was concerned about her going through customs in Chicago, just because it's an ordeal, he said.
"It's always nervous, especially in a big country like the United States," Sazhen said of customs.
He was asked about Rohulia's mood about traveling to the United States and Columbia.
"She's very nervous, too, obviously," Sazhen said.
After Rohulia's arrival, they plan to travel to Los Angeles to stay with a friend until Rohulia can move into Gateway Hall at MU. The friend's daughter graduated from MU in May, and the friend had been corresponding with Sazhen after reading about him in the Tribune.
"Alina's not allowed to enter her room until Aug. 13," Sazhen said. "It will be very cool for us to go to California."
Sazhen got moved into Gateway Hall on Friday.
Russian shelling
Although his mind was otherwise occupied, Sazhen talked a little about the situation in Ukraine.
The Russian shelling has been unrelenting in many locations, but he said Kharkiv was being hit badly.
"Kharkiv has been shelled very heavily today," Sazhen said Thursday.
Russia is using heavy artillery to break through front lines, he said.
"The situation on the front line is very heavy," he said. "They're using the World War II Soviet strategy of using everything."
It all points to the continued need for weapons from the U.S. and other Western nations, he said. Long-range rockets and fighter planes would be ideal, he added.
"We are in great need of weapons," he said of Ukraine's military.
Amnesty International report
He dismissed an Amnesty International report this past week that the Ukrainian military has been basing itself in schools, hospitals and other civilian buildings, making those places military targets.
The Ukrainian government and military has encouraged civilians to leave cities under Russian attack, saying the fewer civilians in the cities, the fewer the Russians can kill, Sazhen said.
"Our government is doing everything it can to save our cities," Sazhen said.
Russia is attacking them, so Ukraine's military is defending them, he said.
Even his own grandmother remained behind in battered Kharkiv, though everyone has urged her to leave.
"We did everything to get her to leave," Sazhen said. "It is her decision to stay there."
Regarding the Brittney Griner case, he said he hadn't been giving it much attention. Griner, a WNBA star, was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison for cannabis possession. Negotiations for a possible prisoner exchange are ongoing.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou Ukrainian exchange student reunited with girlfriend in Columbia
