IU alum Olesia Markovic speaks to media students.
(Courtesy of Mike Conway)
Ukrainians with ties to Indiana University are among millions seeking safety as Russian troops wrap up a second day of intensive attacks on the country.
Troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital Friday, in an invasion that has fueled fears of wider war.
The night before, IU graduate Olesia Markovic was trying to figure out whether she and her family should flee their home.
“A lot of people started leaving Kyiv early in the morning,” she said. “And there were huge traffic jams on the exit roads from Kyiv.”
Markovic said they opted to stay home at least for the night—after making sure there were shelters nearby if needed.
“We've been instructed that if we hear loud sirens, we go to the bomb shelter. No siren, we just can stay home and continue doing what we’re doing,” she said.
Ukrainian officials have reported at least 137 deaths on their side and claimed hundreds on the Russian one. Russian authorities released no casualty figures.
U.N. officials reported 25 civilian deaths, mostly from shelling and airstrikes, and said that 100,000 people were believed to have left their homes.
Markovic is now a researcher at a Ukrainian university. Over a decade ago, she was in Bloomington completing her master’s in journalism at IU.
She answered questions over Zoom from students taking her former professor Mike Conway’s broadcast media analysis class. Markovic told them they had important roles to play—many Ukrainians first learned of Russia’s plans in U.S. media.
Conway says Markovic attended a first edition of his video storytelling course, and the two remained connected on Facebook ever since.
“I just sent her a little note and she immediately responded. And it was her idea to meet with the students,” Conway said. “It was powerful.”
Markovic is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin; she called him a dictator in a CNN op-ed earlier this week.
“It's very clear now that a country attacking a peaceful neighbor constitutes a threat to the rest of the world,” Markovic wrote. “Ukraine badly needs international support -- through actions that would lead to feasible results.”
U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions that will target Russian banks, oligarchs, state-controlled companies and high-tech sectors, saying Putin “chose this war.”
After denying for weeks he planned to invade, Putin argued that the West left him no other choice by refusing to negotiate on Russia’s security demands.
In Bloomington on Friday, IU students waved signs denouncing Russia. More than 100 protestors attended the pro-Ukraine demonstration.
Graduate student Sofiya Bodnar, from western Ukraine, said she was afraid.
“It’s been a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of looking at news articles and just doom scrolling … but also, just talking to my parents,” Bodnar said. “I just came back from the phone talking to them for an hour, and they’re scared.”
Elizabeth DeSantis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
