Returning to his country to fight? No, master’s student Volodymyr Lotushko (31) is not planning on doing that. Lotushko, who trained to be a doctor in Ukraine, is doing what he can from Maastricht. For example, he works as a volunteer for the Ukrainian media: “I translate their articles into English.” He is also helping a team from a Ukrainian healthcare center that documents war crimes. “We collect articles, photographs and videos from the media and from Telegram about Russian attacks on the health care sector, such as the bombing of hospitals and the recent attack on a maternity clinic in Mariupol. It serves as evidence and can be used by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Each time, a report is made of what happened, what the damage was, how many people were wounded, how many killed, et cetera. It is a lot of work, but I do it gladly. It is important.”
Grant
Lotushko came to Maastricht in September 2021. Ready to broaden his horizon. He had worked as a GP in his native country for three years and after that as a “state expert” for the Ministry of Health for a couple of years. With a grant from a Ukrainian charitable institution, he was given the opportunity to do a follow-up study: it was the one-year master’s of Governance and Leadership in European Public Health at Maastricht University. “I feel compelled to finish it.” Moreover, he received a message from ‘the sponsor’ that it was expected, despite the war, that students would continue with their studies.
But is that possible, continuing? “It is now. But during the first days of the war it was pretty hard.”
Sisters
“My father lives in Dubrovytsia, a small town in the north-west, close to the border with Belarus. Things are relatively calm there. He is a bus driver and the bus company is thinking of starting up the bus routes again.” His two sisters are also safe now. “They fled.” The youngest lived ten kilometres from a military base, a Russian target and therefore dangerous. The eldest spent a week in an air-raid shelter because of the fighting and bombing at Hostomel airport, near Kyiv. Her house is only about 12 kilometres from the capital. “It wasn’t until last week that she moved in with my youngest sister in a rented house in Vinnytsia, in the middle of the country, having arrived completely exhausted. They can get on with their lives with not too much danger and, for example, do their shopping. My youngest sister is allowed to continue with her work placement in the local hospital.”
500 messages
Back to 24 February, the first day of the war. How did Lotushko get through that day? “I had the day off. At about eight o’clock in the morning, I saw more than 500 messages on Telegram from friends, former fellow students and family. They said that it had started. I went looking for information everywhere and watched the video with Putin in which he announces ‘the special military operation’. I was in shock, I immediately telephoned my father and sisters [his mother died in 2013, ed.]. I was angry, sad, but also frustrated, I didn’t know what to do. It felt surrealistic, as if I was watching Syria, not my own country.”
Nuclear power plant
During a meeting at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences about the Russian invasion, last Tuesday evening, a Ukrainian alumna talked about her biggest fear: that in a couple of weeks’ time, the war in Ukraine will have become normal for the rest of the world and attention for it will slacken. Does Lotushko feel the same about that? “No. The war has far-reaching consequences. Economically, for the whole world, but what about the many refugees? They are now heading to Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic, but there will come a time when the European Union will have to deal with it. Not to mention the nuclear power plants that are being attacked or that are already in hands of the Russians. That is not just dangerous for the Ukraine.”
Russians
He hasn’t spoken to Russian fellow students yet. He is not looking forward to it, he honestly admits. Of course, like many, Lotushko feels that Putin is the perpetrator, the man who “thinks that he can do anything, who is afraid of nothing, but at the same time, 60 per cent of the Russian population supports him. They are responsible for his actions too. If anyone can do anything to change this war, it is the Russians themselves. The people have to revolt against him. And sure, I understand that they are afraid, I have read that already thousands have been arrested during demonstrations, but in 2014, the Ukrainians also protested, at the risk of losing their lives. People went up against the pro-Russian president Yanukovych and took to the streets in great numbers. It turned violent, shots were even fired. But eventually, Yanukovych left.”
Rebuilding
Lotushko hopes to finish his studies in September and then return to Ukraine. “People like me are needed, people who can use their expertise for health care. We will have to start working on rebuilding.” Rebuilding? That sounds very optimistic. “I am hopeful. The war won’t last for years. At the most, a couple of months, I think. The Russians will retreat. Putin will realise that his plan won’t work.”