A Chinese Student's Choice in the Wartime Ukraine

理财鱼小提示：A Chinese Student's Choice in the Wartime Ukraine

It has been nearly a month after the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Ukraine. People in the warzone have been hit with a chaotic reality.

Ke is a Chinese student studying in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine. He has not been sleeping well since the launch of Russia’s “special military operation.” .

Ke told TMTPost that he has been intense every day because of the constant worry that airstrikes might hit the city any time. He was on the track of acquiring his PhD in Oil Painting in 2023. But the conflict has changed everything. He does not know what lies ahead of him.

Luckily, Ke has not experienced any life-threatening dangers yet though there is an airstrike alarm in the city from time to time. Lviv has been relatively safe from the war, which makes the city a destination for refugees from eastern Ukraine that have been displaced by the war. Refugees have crossed literally the entire Ukraine to seek shelter in Lviv. Some of them are also trying to get to neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania to seek refuge.

Ke had the opportunity to leave Ukraine but he eventually decided to stay in Lviv to help his fellow Chinese students who fled eastern Ukraine. “I could have fled. But I like this place, and the people here. I treat them like my family. And I can tell that they also like me back,” Ke said, explaining his decision. “I want to stay here to help my Chinese friends and Ukrainian friends.”

Ke shared with TMTPost his momentous choice in Ukraine. The following is his story in first person.

1.

I came to Ukraine in November 2015 for two reasons. One is that it’s cheap to study in Ukraine. Second, Ukraine’s universities pay more attention to the basics, which is important to me because I study painting. I returned to China two times from 2015 to 2021. I had ben away from Ukraine for around two years. I finally returned to Ukraine in December 2021 to study for my Ph.D. degree.

No one knew that a war would break out between Russia and Ukraine. Everything happened so fast.

It wasn’t until the morning of February 24 that I learned from news reports that there was going to be a war. There is a six-hour time gap between Beijing and Lviv. So I got the news reports six hours late. After that, my family and friends back home bombarded me with calls and messages, asking me if I could go back to China. I could only tell them everything was fine in Lviv and that they didn’t need to worry about me.

Lviv was a famous touristic city in Ukraine before the war. Tourists from across the globe would visit here. Around three weeks before the war, an American friend of mine in Ukraine told me that he received a warning from the American government that a war might be coming. Then consulates pulled out from Ukraine. Some of my friends from other countries had also left Ukraine.

There hasn’t been any large explosion in Lviv yet. But the airstrike alarm will sound every day. I have been feeling intense all the time. I can’t sleep very well. This is very common among people.

We can’t sleep for long. We can’t even sleep for five or six hours a day because usually, the raids come at midnight. This makes everyone very intense. We need to find shelter every time the alarm sounds. I now wake up very early every morning. Yesterday, I woke up around 4:00 am. The day before yesterday, it was around 3:00 am. After waking up, I would look at my phone and realized it wasn’t really time to get up yet.

People seeking refuge in the air raid shelther

At one time, the airstrike alarm went off at 2 in the morning again. I didn’t fully wake up from sleep. I didn’t even realize where I was and what I was supposed to do. I was in shock for a few seconds. Then I went to grab my phone and clothes and ran to the air raid shelters.

But still, it’s relatively safe here. The situation is so much worse in eastern Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv.

Kharkiv is right next to the border with Russia. You can reach the Russian border within a four-hour drive. Unlike Lviv, Kharkiv is located in a plain. It is also an industrial zone. The city has become very dangerous because of these reasons. I did my master's in Kharkiv. And one of the professors that I had there sent me pictures of the war-devastated city. Buildings have been destroyed by explosions. Some have been damaged to the extent that they only have one wall left standing. If you look through the windows on the wall, you would see there is nothing in there anymore. A bomb even went off in front of a Chinese student’s home, just one day after that student left the city.

2.

I thought about going to Poland to seek refuge after the war broke out. On the evening of February 28, I was planning to leave Ukraine. I even packed all my stuff. I told my landlord about it. And I noticed that he didn’t want me to leave. His father didn’t want to see me leave either.

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