KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –- Vitaly Chernetsky came to United States decades ago. The KU professor of Slavic Languages and Literature is a naturalized U.S. citizen, but he still has strong ties to his native Ukraine academically and personally. All of his close family, including his father, still live there.
He speaks with his father in Odessa, Ukraine daily. Monday was his father’s birthday.
Usually, his father is philosophical. When he speaks of the mundane, it is about taking care of his garden.
Monday, he said, his father’s voice was different, different from even a few days ago.
“I called to wish him happy birthday. And the first thing he said is that Putin is making a speech right now and an invasion might start as we were speaking on the phone,” said Chernetsky. “He was not scared, but he was definitely worried.”
Their conversation included brainstorming ways Chernetksy could check on his father’s wellbeing if lines of communication are interrupted.
“We basically are losing sleep thinking about our loved ones back home,” he said.
Things have been uncertain since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, but the worry and preparation have reached new levels.
“I have friends, for instance, who work at an art museum who have just had trainings on how to do first aid to the wounded, how to stop bleeding and things of that kind,” Chernetsky described.
With little ability to help there, he said the best way he can think to help is to give his home country and the people who live there a voice.
“We are still a diverse country which has a strong identity and a strong desire to be peaceful and friendly with its neighbors and that is willing and determined to defend itself should it be attacked. It does not have any designs on anybody else. It does not want to claim anything that is not theirs. But it does not want to surrender,” he said.
An antique cabinet in his Kansas City home is filled with Ukrainian books and artifacts. Among them is a traditional Ukrainian decanter featuring a Cossack playing lute while his trusted stallion grazes nearby.
“This is a warrior, but a warrior at peace,” he said as he pulled it out.
It’s a hopeful image, much like the wreath on his front door. It is a Christmas wreath made of pinecones and sprayed with glitter. Large pinecones make up the circle of the wreath. Smaller pinecones fill the center in the shape of a peace sign. He bought for Christmas but has kept up, hoping that as long as it stays up, the symbol will represent reality.
“My message to people in Kansas City would be to pray for Ukraine. Think of your Ukrainian American friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We have a small but proud and active Ukrainian American community here in town. We are your neighbors who just want peace and happiness for the country of our birth of our heritage. And we believe that this is something that everyone can share. And please do not think of this as a conflict that is far away. We are all tired of conflicts… All of us want to live in peace,” he said.
He argued that maintaining peace in the Ukraine is important beyond just its own borders.
He noted that when the Soviet Union fell, Ukraine ended up with the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It voluntarily gave up those nuclear weapons in 1994. In return, several nations, including Russia and the United States, signed the Budapest Memorandum to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
What happens next in Ukraine, he contended, could send a message to other nations with nuclear weapons about what can come of denuclearizing.
