HAMILTON, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – Students and faculty at Colgate University are working hand in hand to help victims after the attacks on Ukraine. 

“We here at Colgate University are trying to stay abreast of the information, of news by the minute, that is coming at us in terms of understanding the information,” said Professor Jessica Graybill. “First and foremost for ourselves, but also definitely for our students.”

Professor Aleksandr Sklyar knows firsthand what it’s like to have family in Ukraine.

“My aunt and cousin in Nikolaev, Mykolaiv as we’d say now in Ukrainian, Sklyar explained, “My aunt lives in a five to a six-story apartment building.”

“My cousin, her son, lives in a house with a basement, so as explosions were happening all across Ukraine from every imaginable direction, including Nikolaev, they were planning on Thursday to get my aunt at least to my cousin’s house, so they can have a basement to shelter in.”

This is just one of the many agonizing stories we are hearing out of Ukraine, but luckily there are ways to help.

“If you have relatives, or if you know people, personally, who are being affected by this – get in touch with them,” said Sklyar. “Reach out to them – ask your parents, aunts, uncles, or cousins, or maybe you know a family that’s Ukrainian in the local community; reach out and ask them if they know actual people that we can be helping.”