Former Dayton High Ukranian exchange student reports life on the ground as Russian invasion continues
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 03/23/2022 - 10:42am
Over the years, many students from the Ukraine have studied locally thanks to a student exchange program known as the World Heritage Student Exchange.
This report contains sensitive and graphic material.
This is the second installment in a series highlighting the experiences of those students reporting their circumstances on the ground in Ukraine, or in one of the surrounding countries after being forced to flee due to the Russian invasion.
Area Representative Liza Mcilwee placed and oversaw the students while they were within the Carson City and Dayton communities, and has kept ties with each of them over the years.
Mcilwee has spent the past several weeks trying to stay in contact with her former students, some of whom are still stuck within Ukrainian borders as the invasion from Russia continues.
Maryna Otryshko attended Dayton High School in 2019-20, and is from Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, but was living in Kyiv while she attended school at the start of the attack.
Mcllwee reached out to her on Feb. 24 to find out if she was safe.
At the time, she told Mcilwee it wasn’t safe and that she was “heading to the bunker.”
“She was in hiding for three days, but made it safely to western Ukraine where she has family,” said Mcilwee.
Then, on March 3, Otryshko reached out to Mcilwee and told her it was becoming dangerous where they were in the west, and stated she was on her way to other family members in Italy.
A few days later, she told Mcilwee that atrocities were happening on the ground near Kyiv.
The following account is graphic in nature.
“These Russian animals have started to move into houses of people in a town next to Kyiv, (as) most of these people have left and the homes are empty,” said Otryshko. “They were raping 10 girls for two days and then they hanged them. There are tons such stories, unfortunately. It seems like nothing is going to surprise me after this war.”
Otryshko reported at the time that the city of Kharkiv is almost destroyed now, and that her native city of Kryvyi Rih was under attack.
“The youth there are helping to make Molotov Cocktails and remove the tags that Russian soldiers mark to locate targets.”
On March 11, Otryshko told Mcilwee that bombs had begun to fall in her hometown.
“In my native city where my family is, there are bombs being dropped now, so people are starting to panic,” said Otryshko. “I am now worried about family and friends there.”
Otryshko later told Mcilwee that her friends have now joined the army, and spoke on a bombing at a building where the occupants clearly spelled out "children" in Russian big enough to be seen from the sky.
"Women and children were hiding there for safety, and they bombed it," said Otryshko.
On March 17, Otryshko told Mcilwee her family would not leave the city because her grandmother was too ill to be moved.
“My granny wouldn’t leave because she is having health issues,” said Otryshko. “Those issues make it almost impossible for her to move somewhere, or do it in such challenging conditions. She has even agreed to leave the city, but the night before she was supposed to leave she started feeling bad again — she keeps losing consciousness and has signs of possible stroke.”
“She now says she will stay in the city until the end, and if it’ll make her die, then that is supposed to happen,” continued Otryshko. “She has always put all efforts and finances into us, saving on her health. I’m working now to make sure I would be able to help my family if needed, but if there would be a way to help my grandmom at least feel better, so that she is not thinking of death, I would appreciate it a lot.”
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This is the second of several stories being highlighted of previous local Ukrainian students.
To read the first installment, click here.
All of the students told Mcilwee the best way to help would be to donate to the special fund set up to support the Ukrainian armed forces, which you can find by clicking this link.
“Not a single one of these young people are asking for help for themselves or their families, because there are so many Ukrainians in much more need than they are, and they want to see those families helped,” said Mcilwee. “They believe the best way to help them personally is to help their army to win the war.”
