Latest news with #Vladyslav
Le Figaro
4 days ago
- Politics
- Le Figaro
Historical Tensions and Hardening Rhetoric: Solidarity with Ukrainian Refugees Wanes in Poland
Réservé aux abonnés In February 2022, Poland's civilian population impressed the world, spontaneously organizing humanitarian convoys at its border with Ukraine. Three years on, the country faces the challenge of integration. 'If it weren't for the war, we wouldn't be here,' says Vladyslav, as he tidies up the sweets section of the supermarket where he works. Having arrived in Poland in August 2022 to escape compulsory military conscription in his country, this Ukrainian refugee remembers 'the hospital director who asked a friend to speak Polish rather than Ukrainian in the waiting room,' and admits that his sister is sometimes 'ignored by her fellow students because of her accent.' These are not isolated cases: one Ukrainian in three claims to have already been confronted with an attitude of superiority on the part of Poles. The wave of solidarity unleashed by the Russian invasion seems almost a distant memory. In February 2022, Poland's civilian population impressed the world, spontaneously organizing humanitarian convoys at the border, welcoming refugees at railway stations and providing shelter for families. Three years on, Poland, home to almost a million refugees, faces the challenge of integration: 38%…
The Independent
06-08-2025
- The Independent
Family and colleagues mourn beloved Kyiv teacher killed in a Russian strike
Natalia Haiova was a beloved kindergarten teacher in Kyiv known for the artistic flair of her creations -- drawings, flower arrangements, decorations. Last week, she perished in a Russian strike on a nine-story building in the Svyatoshinsky district of the capital. The attack, which targeted multiple neighborhoods in Kyiv, claimed the lives of 31 people, including five children, making it the deadliest to hit the capital since the full-scale invasion. Haiova, 46, was killed along with her sons, Vladyslav, 21, and Roman, 17, and her brother Oleksandr Naralyk, 44. The family was crushed under rubble when their apartment building collapsed over their heads. On Tuesday, Haiova's friends and family came to pay their last respects before she and her sons and brother were laid to rest in a Kyiv cemetery. Nadia Kolisnyk, 56, the headmaster of the school where she worked, said that everyone would remember Haiova as a helpful and knowledgeable professional, as well as a creative spirit. 'You saw the beauty she created. All the flowers, the decorations — it was all her golden hands,' Kolisnyk said. Arthur Kulishenko, 22, a classmate of Vladyslav's, had gone to the scene of the attack and waited for his friend's remains to be found, he said. 'We knew he was under the rubble and just waited,' he said. 'There were just rocks. The building just crumbled there. It collapsed like a sliced cake.' Haiova had moved during the pandemic to the house which had belonged to her father. She found a job right away in the nearby kindergarten, said her sister Olena Stetsiuk, 46. When mass drone and missile attacks escalated on the capital in June, Stetsiuk, who lives in a different part of Kyiv, would message her sister and ask her how she was. Haiova would often respond that she was too tired to head to the basement to take shelter. But recent attacks had been so loud and scary she had usually made the decision to go. Stetsiuk remembers the last shopping trip she made with her sister. They needed to find black garments for a friend's funeral. 'We chose, walked around, laughed,' she said. 'And we chose this blouse with her. She said, take this one. And we went to my place. We sat, discussed it, and looked some more.' Stetsiuk wore the same blouse to her sister's funeral two weeks later.
Associated Press
06-08-2025
- Associated Press
Family and colleagues mourn beloved Kyiv teacher killed in a Russian strike
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Natalia Haiova was a beloved kindergarten teacher in Kyiv known for the artistic flair of her creations -- drawings, flower arrangements, decorations. Last week, she perished in a Russian strike on a nine-story building in the Svyatoshinsky district of the capital. The attack, which targeted multiple neighborhoods in Kyiv, claimed the lives of 31 people, including five children, making it the deadliest to hit the capital since the full-scale invasion. Haiova, 46, was killed along with her sons, Vladyslav, 21, and Roman, 17, and her brother Oleksandr Naralyk, 44. The family was crushed under rubble when their apartment building collapsed over their heads. On Tuesday, Haiova's friends and family came to pay their last respects before she and her sons and brother were laid to rest in a Kyiv cemetery. Nadia Kolisnyk, 56, the headmaster of the school where she worked, said that everyone would remember Haiova as a helpful and knowledgeable professional, as well as a creative spirit. 'You saw the beauty she created. All the flowers, the decorations — it was all her golden hands,' Kolisnyk said. Arthur Kulishenko, 22, a classmate of Vladyslav's, had gone to the scene of the attack and waited for his friend's remains to be found, he said. 'We knew he was under the rubble and just waited,' he said. 'There were just rocks. The building just crumbled there. It collapsed like a sliced cake.' Haiova had moved during the pandemic to the house which had belonged to her father. She found a job right away in the nearby kindergarten, said her sister Olena Stetsiuk, 46. When mass drone and missile attacks escalated on the capital in June, Stetsiuk, who lives in a different part of Kyiv, would message her sister and ask her how she was. Haiova would often respond that she was too tired to head to the basement to take shelter. But recent attacks had been so loud and scary she had usually made the decision to go. Stetsiuk remembers the last shopping trip she made with her sister. They needed to find black garments for a friend's funeral. 'We chose, walked around, laughed,' she said. 'And we chose this blouse with her. She said, take this one. And we went to my place. We sat, discussed it, and looked some more.' Stetsiuk wore the same blouse to her sister's funeral two weeks later.
Kuwait Times
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Ukrainian students mark end of school as war drags on
KYIV: Ukrainian school students wearing sashes which read 'Graduate' full around after a graduation ceremony at a school in Kyiv on May 30, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – AFP KYIV: As she watched her 17-year-old son Vladyslav graduate from high school in Kyiv on Friday, servicewoman Oksana Baranovska said she felt a mix of pride and fear. Her son had finished school despite years of disruption - first from the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia's invasion - but she worried about what his future would hold in a country at war. Despite peace talks and a flurry of diplomacy to try to end the war, Ukraine's class of 2025 - like the three before them - graduate into a country under daily bombardment and with no sign Moscow wants to halt its invasion. 'Like every mother, I am worried about my child's future. At school he was better protected in case of attacks. But adult life, unfortunately, can be more difficult,' Baranovska, 42, told AFP. 'I'm a servicewoman myself, and I was really worried about my child's life because I fully understand the situation in the country,' she said. When Vladyslav turns 18, he will be barred from leaving the country under Ukraine's martial law. Baranovska, who worked as a border guard, said she offered her son one last opportunity to take a trip abroad before his birthday. But he insisted on staying in his homeland. 'Screw Putin' On Friday he took part in his school's 'Last Bell' ceremony, a tradition in which a top student rings a bell in a symbolic mark of the end of the academic year. Boys in suits then led girls dressed in white dresses to a waltz in the school's courtyard. Schoolmaster Olga Tymoshenko breathed a sigh of relief. 'We are all alive, all healthy, we were all together. That's why the year was great despite everything,' she told AFP. The threat of Russian attacks hovers constantly over schools across Ukraine. Air alerts forced children to miss an average of one in every five school lessons over the past academic year, according Save the Children. The United Nations says more than 1,600 schools were damaged or destroyed in the first three years of the war launched in February 2022. In the country's east, closer to the front line, schools have been forced underground, where students and teachers are better protected from incoming shells. Tymoshenko said the children had learned safety measures. 'When the alarm sounds, they are the first to run there, they know their places. You know, children adapt to everything very quickly,' she said. Graduation passed without any air raid sirens - to Vladyslav's relief. The 17-year-old also had a message for pupils on the other side of the border - and front line - in Russia. 'Please stop this war at any cost. It will be better for you and for the whole world,' he said. 'And screw Putin.' — AFP
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Really worried': Ukrainian pupils mark end of school as war drags on
As she watched her 17-year-old son Vladyslav graduate from high school in Kyiv on Friday, servicewoman Oksana Baranovska said she felt a mix of pride and fear. Her son had finished school despite years of disruption -- first from the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia's invasion -- but she worried about what his future would hold in a country at war. Despite peace talks and a flurry of diplomacy to try to end the war, Ukraine's class of 2025 -- like the three before them -- graduate into a country under daily bombardment and with no sign Moscow wants to halt its invasion. "Like every mother, I am worried about my child's future. At school he was better protected in case of attacks. But adult life, unfortunately, can be more difficult," Baranovska, 42, told AFP. "I'm a servicewoman myself, and I was really worried about my child's life because I fully understand the situation in the country," she said. When Vladyslav turns 18, he will be barred from leaving the country under Ukraine's martial law. Baranovska, who worked as a border guard, said she offered her son one last opportunity to take a trip abroad before his birthday. But he insisted on staying in his homeland. - 'Screw Putin' - On Friday he took part in his school's "Last Bell" ceremony, a tradition in which a top student rings a bell in a symbolic mark of the end of the academic year. Boys in suits then led girls dressed in white dresses to a waltz in the school's courtyard. Schoolmaster Olga Tymoshenko breathed a sigh of relief. "We are all alive, all healthy, we were all together. That's why the year was great despite everything," she told AFP. The threat of Russian attacks hovers constantly over schools across Ukraine. Air alerts forced children to miss an average of one in every five school lessons over the past academic year, according Save the Children. The United Nations says more than 1,600 schools were damaged or destroyed in the first three years of the war launched in February 2022. In the country's east, closer to the front line, schools have been forced underground, where students and teachers are better protected from incoming shells. Tymoshenko said the children had learned safety measures. "When the alarm sounds, they are the first to run there, they know their places. You know, children adapt to everything very quickly," she said. Graduation passed without any air raid sirens -- to Vladyslav's relief. The 17-year-old also had a message for pupils on the other side of the border -- and front line -- in Russia. "Please stop this war at any cost. It will be better for you and for the whole world," he said. "And screw Putin." bur-brw/jc/js
