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Transcript/ScriptUS Citizens in Ukraine – Kosstutschenko
HEAD: Many US Citizens Decided to Stay In Ukraine, Despite Russia’s Invasion
DATE: 04/02/2022
PUBLISHED: 04/06/2022 at 12pm
BYLINE: Anna Kosstutschenko
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Lviv, Ukraine
VIDEOGRAPHER: Yuiry Dankevych
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA & News Agencies TBA
PLATFORMS: TV only
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE(1st); MCY 2nd
TRT: 3:07
VID APPROVED BY:KE
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE:))
((INTRO:))
[[Twelve days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, President Biden urged all U.S. citizens staying or living in Ukraine to immediately leave the country. And though many have, other Americans remain in Ukraine and have no plans to leave. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.]]
((NARRATION))
((NATS))
((Rachel McVey, Volunteer))
“Hey Iryna, it is Rachel. I am good, I finally was able to find two generators for these troops in Sloviansk that I was trying to get, so I am like super happy!”
((NARRATION))
Rachel McVey makes more than 30 calls just like this one every day. She is one of the many American volunteers who decided to stay in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and help.
((Rachel McVey, Volunteer))
“It is encouraging to see how everybody is coming together, it is not a situation where anybody just says, ‘OK, army, you do your thing, you provide for yourself!’ This is all personal for each one of us.”
((NARRATION))
For Rachel, the morning of February 24th started with a call from her parents in the US. They told their daughter Putin had invaded Ukraine, and the Russian military started bombing several Ukrainian cities at once. Among them was the capital, Kyiv, where Rachel had been living for six years and where she worked as a copywriter.
((Rachel McVey, Volunteer))
“One day you have your city, you have your life, you are sitting and drinking coffee with friends and thinking about your career plans… And then the next day you are on your phone and you are getting updates, like ‘Enemy paratroopers have landed outside of the city…’
((NARRATION))
She had the means to immediately return to her parents in Philadelphia. But she didn’t.
((Rachel McVey, Volunteer))
“On the first day of war I had a friend who was already in Lviv – she and her husband were driving out of the city; they were driving to Poland by car. And they offered to take me with them.”
((NARRATION))
But Rachel had her reasons to stay in Ukraine.
((Rachel McVey, Volunteer))
“Ukraine for me is freedom. It is where I found myself, it is where I found friends that I truly love and connect with, it is where I found love!”
((NARRATION))
American Charles Bonds also arrived in Lviv with just a small backback. Bonds is a historian, who decided himself to studying Stalinism. He came to Ukraine from Indiana on February 1st, planning to settle and teach in Ukraine.
((Charles Bonds, Volunteer))
“On February 24th I woke up and went to smoke a cigarette, and on the general balcony of the apartment I saw people with suitcases, and I realized what was going on almost immediately; that the war had started.”
((NARRATION))
Bonds and his American colleagues left for Lviv on the first days of the invasion. But he didn’t leave Ukraine.
((Charles Bonds, Volunteer))
“We are appealing to all Americans to raise funds, we are purchasing necessary tactical items and humanitarian items, tactical items…”
((NARRATION))
Bonds believes Ukraine will emerge from this conflict victorious.
((Charles Bonds, Volunteer))
“Within two decades Ukraine will be the most powerful nation in Europe, I have every faith in that. And people may laugh at me, but they laughed at the people who predicted the fall of the USSR.”
((NARRATION))
Bonds – like many others – is convinced Ukraine will win. And nothing – even Russia’s invasion – can make him leave the country he has come to love.
((Anna Kosstutschenko for VOA News, Lviv, Ukraine))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Lviv, Ukraine
Embargo DateApril 6, 2022 16:34 EDT
Byline
Anna Kosstutschenko
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
