DETROIT – A woman who spent a year in Detroit and recently returned to Ukraine spoke with Local 4 to describe waking up to bombings and racing to the hospital to get her son, who is battling COVID.
Natalia Gusak was in Detroit for a year-long scholarship at Wayne State. She just returned home to Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
On Wednesday night (Feb. 23), Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine.
In a televised address, Putin claimed the action comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine. He said Russia doesn’t have a goal to occupy Ukraine and that the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian “regime.”
Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia, charging that Putin “chose this war” and that his country will bear the consequences.
Biden said U.S. and NATO troops will not become involved in the war in Ukraine, but the sanctions will limit Russia’s ability to be part of the global economy.
Personal accounts
Gusak said she was in a deep sleep Thursday morning in Kyiv when a series of bombings became her alarm clock.
She raced to a hospital to get her son, who is battling COVID. She sought shelter there and joined Local 4 at 9 a.m. -- which is 4 p.m. in Kyiv.
Gusak was still shocked, saying she heard one explosion and then two others.
“It was the first explosion I heard -- it was around 4:30 a.m. and it was three and then the fourth one was later,” Gusak said.
She offered Local 4 a look outside the hospital window on what should have been a sunny day.
“Here it’s around 4 p.m. and it shouldn’t be so dark right now,” Gusak said. “It’s the smoke due to explosions in Kyiv and around Kyiv.”
Just three weeks after being at Wayne State University as a Fulbright Scholar, she’s trapped and won’t leave her son, who is battling for his life.
“I would like people to know that we are in danger,” Gusak said. “All of Europe is in danger, and they do not react as we are expecting, because this is only small sanctions. They will never stop.”
Julia Didenko was in Detroit not long ago to document the rise of a fallen city in a film. She said she was showing communities in Ukraine how to rebuild and revitalize.
Now, she wants to know where the rest of the world is. She said she had to scurry from a cave Thursday and try to coordinate with her husband to find shelter.
Didenko was heading to a nearby train station, but she was diverted when she learned the Russian army would likely try to choke off city centers by targeting transportation hubs.
“She’s running into a shelter right now, right away, because there is a signal that our train stations will be bombed any second, any minute,” said Dr. Olena Danylyuk, of Wayne State University, translating for Didenko.
A crisis response team has put together a rally and protest at a church off of Ryan Road, just south of 11 Mile Road.
Watch all of Paula Tutman’s Ukraine coverage from today in the videos below.
