We discussed a volunteer trip to the USA with writer and volunteer Ruslan Gorovyi.
Ruslan Gorovyi: I went to the USA to see my family. Of course, I couldn’t help but combine this trip with volunteering. I brought back a lot of things for the military. They scared me into thinking that I would not be able to transport everything across the border, but I was able to. I had prepared documents for this and therefore, I managed to bring everything that they asked for.
Ruslan Gorovyi: The Ukrainian diaspora in the USA has been helping our army since 2014, and they continue to do so even now. Ukraine is in their hearts, even if they live in another country. Everywhere I went, I wore Ukrainian symbols, and from time to time they gave me a thumbs up, like «klass” (Ukrainian word meaning cool), or said, «Glory to Ukraine.» I saw a lot of yellow and blue flags on houses and cars with the inscription “Russian ship go *explicit* yourself.” Russian symbols became very few and almost disappeared, as before there were a lot of them. I hear much less Russian in Ukraine this time too. It is no longer fashionable to speak Russian here, it is even dangerous. I have heard different stories, for example the wheels of a car owned by a Russian were slashed simply because they were Russian.
Ruslan Gorovyi: There are a certain number of Ukrainians who took advantage of the moment and simply left the country. They had been planning this for a long time. This is their choice. What are you going to do about it? This is society, there are many of us, and we are all different. However, practically everyone who left wants to come back to Ukraine. It is difficult to say when this will happen, but they are ready for it. In addition, they help in any way they can.