U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Moscow and Kyiv to take “whatever urgent steps” to stop the fighting, but the lack of dialogue between the two governments has been disconcerting for Pachenko.
Mariia Pachenko, top center, huddles with Ukrainian peers in prayer on April 8, 2022, as the group disbands after spending nearly a week together taking part in the National Model United Nations Conference in New York. NEW YORK — For nearly a week in April, Mariia Pachenko took a respite from her studies in besieged Ukraine to share its plight with fellow college students in New York.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Moscow and Kyiv to take “whatever urgent steps” to stop the fighting, but the lack of dialogue between the two governments has been disconcerting for Pachenko — now in France for the foreseeable future — and her peers in the widening diaspora of Ukrainians fleeing bombs, tanks and violence.“The United Nations as an organization needs to be reformed.
“The only thing they want is for me to be safe. That’s why they told me I need to stay here,” the 22-year-old said, sobbing. “I don’t want to be safe if they’re not safe. I told my mom that if something happens to them, I will come back and go to army or do whatever. ... Because I don’t care about my life if something happened to them.”
The students' adviser, Halyna Protsyk, has returned to Lviv, and worries about the toll on the young people her country desperately needs to return. Pachenko said it's been difficult to stay away. Bombs have destroyed the bridges outside her town southeast of Lviv, cutting it off from shipments of food and medicine.