Tetiana Tymkiv of the Ukrainian Catholic University’s counseling center painted a scene for attendees at DePaul’s Ukrainian-American Cultural Association’s global conference on Friday, Feb. 21.

“Let’s imagine you waking up at 5 a.m. to an air raid alarm. You spend the next two or three hours in the shelter or hallway scrolling through the newspapers trying to stay informed on if everything is okay,” Tymkiv said, describing what daily life is like for workers at the university’s counseling center in the Ukrainian city of Lviv as the three-year Russia-Ukraine war continues.

“By 8 a.m. you are already attending a lecture, preparing a conference report or studying different materials on trauma responses. This is a reality.” 

The counseling center, known as “Poradnya,” was just one of the community services highlighted during the conference for both Zoom attendees and those in person on DePaul’s campus.

The event included other speakers from the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), including Volodymyr Sklokin, a history professor who gave a lecture on “The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter: Challenges of Decolonization.” Students and faculty from the university also told the audience about their support programs and aid efforts during the war in Ukraine.

Sklokin’s lecture explored “the complex history and geopolitical implications of the “Great War,” putting the current conflict into context for conference attendees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin views Ukraine as an “integral part” of Russia and the region but doesn’t want Ukraine’s leaders to control its destiny, according to Sklokin

“Our experience for the last few days demonstrates how fragile and uncertain everything is,” Sklokin said, referring to recent talks suggesting the possibility of a ceasefire and temporary peace. “It might be more productive to talk not about Ukraine’s decolonization, but about restoring its … sovereignty” as an independent country.

Tymkiv said the Poradnya counseling center has assisted more than 300 people affected by the conflict. 

“Each day represents a delicate balance between personal safety, professional growth and the responsibility to assist others in times of crisis,” Tymkiv said, referring to students and other workers at Poradnya. 

She also noted its personal impact on her own life.

“In retrospect, I realize how much this effort became my personal salvation, a way to channel my fear into something purposeful,” Tymkiv said.

The UCU Legal Clinic, presented by Anna-Maria Snahinsha and Yaroslav Ovcharuk, provides legal advice and representation to soldiers, victims and affected families. Some soldiers and civilian victims of war violence are seeking pensions from the government to accommodate their disabilities. The UCU Legal Clinic also advocates for the retrieval of remains for proper burial on behalf of the families of those who have died.

 “The clinic’s work is deeply intertwined with values of human dignity, justice and human rights,” Snahinsha said. “Every day, we contribute to a cause much larger than ourselves.”

Ovcharuk added, “Over the past year, we have also begun to work intensively with civilians who have lost some of their health, family, friends and homes due to the war.” He said he finds inspiration in the resilience of the people he’s met at the legal clinic. 

Maxym Danyliv and Anastasia Ovcharenko, of the UCU Volunteer Lab, were the final presenters at the conference. The lab promotes community engagement and hosts events, including special dances and programs for those with disabilities. 

Above all, Viktoriia Stelmakh and Anastasiia Volyk, student officers for the Ukrainian-American Cultural Association, a DePaul student group, said they hoped the conference could heighten awareness of what’s going on in Ukraine. 

They said it’s their perception that many DePaul students and Chicagoans don’t know the war is still going on.

“We would like to highlight who started this war, and we want people to know who the villain of the story is, and that’s Russia,” Stelmakh, a DePaul sophomore, said. President Trump, however, has refused to blame Russia for the war.

Stelmakh and Volyk said they hope their organization and its events will help protect the sovereignty of Ukraine and the rights of its people.

“There should be no talks about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Stelmakh said.

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