Local Ukrainian Professor Gives Opinion on Russian Conflict

As Russia moves further into her native country, Dr. Khmelko has watched the situation progress with heartbreak.

“For me personally, it’s absolutely heartbreaking, and I do feel helpless, having my family, having my friends… I could never imagine there would be tanks rolling, Russian Tanks.”

Khmelko has maintained contact with her friends in Ukraine.

One of them told her that they currently taking refuge in a soviet-era bomb shelter.

Khmelko maintains that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to assume control of Ukraine.

Rather, she believes Putin wants to install a pro-Russian government.

“He will instill, something like a Lukashenkian Belarus, or some puppet government, so Ukraine will have a government; it will be a pro-Russian government.”

She also feels that many Ukrainians are not happy with the response of western countries to situation.

“To win a modern war, you have to have weapons; you have to have army; you have to have so much more than Ukrainians had. I do belie NATO could do so much more.”

Dr. Khmelko said that while she believes the conflict will end soon, it probably will not end with Ukrainian victory.

“Russian federation will bomb, and it will be very aggressive, but I do see that in a day, maximum two, as soon as they take over Kyev, they will find a way to put in basically what they call local government, pro-Russian government, in place.”

The war in Ukraine is thousands of miles away, but its effects are being felt right here, in Chattanooga.