Students criticised for not fighting for Ukraine

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Memorials on the streets in Western Ukraine (Credit: Olha Babenko)

A Ukrainian university student living in the UK says he’s been accused of being a “draft dodger” while his home country is invaded.

Oleksii Burov has been at UEA since 2019 and is now studying for a masters degree in Media, Culture and Society.

“I’ve had people on social media… tell me that I’m a coward, that I’m a ‘draft dodger’.

“It’s seemingly picking up and getting worse and I’m not quite sure why.

“It’s worrying. It’s not like the conscription laws are so transparent. The people saying that don’t understand the situation properly.”

“It’s frustrating and disappointing because of what Ukrainians like me are trying to do, we’re not just sitting on our bums.

“I’ve done some fundraisers through a society, we’ve done a protest, we went to a protest in Norwich.”

See Oleksii’s interview here:

Tetania is a journalism student from the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in Ukraine.

She’s spending her independent study year in London.

“To be honest I’m still a little bit worried about the situation.

“At the beginning of the war my health was not good because of signals, because of rockets…

“Your life stopped. Completely.

“I feel safe here.”

See Tetania’s interview here:

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