ukraine one year later...
Dr. Bogdan Groboviy, his wife, Natalia, and their oldest child, Aleksey, 31, were all born in Ukraine. The couple's two youngest children, Marianna, 16, and Patrick, 15, were born in America in Louisville, Kentucky.
Natalia, Aleksey, and Dr. Groboviy were refugees brought to the United States by a Catholic charity.
Dr. Graboviy was born in Lviv in Western Ukraine. He is a dentist and practiced in Ukraine for five years before leaving his homeland in 1996. As soon as he and his family arrived in the United States, Dr. Graboviy returned to school and upon completion of his studies, opened a dental practice in Louisville.
His extended family still resides in Ukraine.
It has been almost one year since we first sat down with Dr. Graboviy and discussed his homeland. We caught up with him earlier this month, two weeks after the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Doctor, February 24th is a historical date in Ukraine's history. This war is being called, Ukraine's New War for Independence.
Ukraine does not want to go back to the days of the Soviet Union, he said. They don't want concentration camps. Back then, the Soviets decided who to treat well, who they wanted in prison, and, they decided what boundaries to put on your life. When the Soviet Union broke down, Ukraine got its independence.
43 camps and facilities around Russia have been set up to house the six thousand children from infants to 17 years of age that Russia has taken from Ukrainian homes. When this war is over, what's going to happen to these young people?
Who does that? Who takes somebody's children, he asked? What kind of a person does that? How can you even think someone will take your children? What are they going to do, train those kids to be assassins? Special Forces? These are military style camps. We have to bring international attention to this problem. Hopefully, every one of them will be returned to their own homes.
(Two weeks after this interview, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of overseeing the unlawful abduction and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual responsibility for these crimes, said the court.)
Doctor Graboviy, the UN Refugee Agency says over 13 million Ukrainians have been displaced. Poland has taken over six million refugees. Why has Poland welcomed so many Ukrainians?
Two reasons, he responded. One, because they are good neighbors to Ukraine, we have a good relationship. And, two, because Poland knows if Russia goes through Ukraine, Poland will be next.
Tens of thousands of civilian and military personnel have been lost on both sides. What do you think it will take for Putin to say, No more. It's over.
I don't know what it will take for Russia to quit, he replied. Maybe the people rising up and saying our children don't have to die, their children don't have to die. It can't be 10 or 20 people, they would just wind up in Siberia. It has to be a million or more people in the streets. Maybe that would work.
Experts say two-thirds of the world's population, led by China, is with the countries that are neutral or side with Russia, even though 18 countries have sanctioned Russia and dozens of countries have supplied military assistance to Ukraine.
I don't agree with that, he declared. I think China is just playing politics. They are both Communist countries and I think they want to keep that connection. China is thinking about their economy.
Recently, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell said this war is the most important event on the world stage. Why is that?
Because this is what the world is seeing, he answered. We should have stopped Putin much sooner. It's been almost 15 years since he invaded Georgia. Eight years since he intervened in the Syrian Civil War. He's never been stopped. He has decided he can do whatever he wants and nobody will stop him. If Putin is not stopped, he will become the second Hitler and history will be repeated.
Doctor, last February, Ukraine's President Zelensky went to Brussels to EU Headquarters to make his plea for Ukraine to be a part of the European Union. How would Ukraine benefit by becoming a part of the European Union?
First of all, I think it would be more of a political statement more than anything else, he surmised. But, it would also open the door for an economic relationship with Europe. More businesses would open and Ukraine could export more products to Europe.
What are some of the products Ukraine could supply to Europe?
Mainly, steel, coal, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, and transport equipment. Also, grains like barley, wheat, and, corn, he listed.
President Biden recently went to Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky. The next day, Putin gave a speech in Moscow that seemed to underline his anger over U.S. involvement in Ukraine. Would that be a reason Putin continues to be aggressive towards Ukraine?
Putin can make up whatever he wants to cover his actions, he claimed. When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, we were never told about the United States effort in WWII. Financial support, military equipment, manpower, nothing. Right after the war, Russian leaders told everybody that the United States was Russia's enemy. So, Putin does the same thing. He says whatever he wants.
There are reports that anyone who opposes the government about this war will wind up in a prison. Human Rights advocates are concerned. Is this any different than before the war?
No, nothing is different, he claimed. We were under the Soviet Union and that propaganda has always been there. When you raised your voice against the government, you went to Siberia or a concentration camp. Communist agents and the KGB were always watching, listening, and reporting.
A Ukrainian elementary school principal said students are now used to hearing air raid sirens and the sound of bombs destroying buildings. What was it like in Ukraine when you were in school?
Well, first, there wasn't any war going on, Dr. Graboviy recalled. We weren't worried about that. But, if you wanted to go to college, you had to be a member of the Communist Party. If you didn't do that, you weren't accepted anywhere else. You wouldn't get a promotion, lots of things. You wouldn't get anything.
Doctor, once again, thank you for your time and continued success with your fundraising for Ukraine.
Thank you.
Coming up: another job$ somebody's gotta do; an oddities, observations, & ?'s, and; a post on fond memories.
And, finally. Here's an update on a gentleman I quoted last July 22nd in a blog called, anytime you deal with the...
At that time, I wrote he is one of my favorite customers at my second Encore Performance.
He had just turned 93, still had a full head of white hair, and, is a genuinely funny man. Names aren't important he claims, so, he's never indulged me. Invariably, he is accompanied by the woman who he says, caused it all. The two have been married 73 years.
The gentleman and his wife were in my place of employment last Monday. We were gabbing about nothing of importance and as I took his payment, he informed me he has bladder cancer. Treatments have begun and he says, I'm not ready to call it a day just yet, so, I'm going to hang around a while longer with or without a bladder.
The two of them sat down and waited for their car to be towel dried and I turned to other customers.
As they were walking out the door, he turned to me and said, I'll be 94 June 30th. I'd kinda like to be here and see that.
It was a most touching departure and I don't even know his name. In the few seconds I had before they would have been out of the building, I couldn't think of an appropriate response.
HUH? What's up with that?
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