A Connecticut woman who was born in Ukraine and who has been running an education nonprofit that connects Americans and Ukrainians virtually is extremely concerned about the Russian invasion of her native country — and what might happen to the young students and their families with whom she’s been working.
Several of them sent her dramatic video of the all-out assault on their home villages around Kyiv late this week — including the compelling video shown at the top of this article.
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Ukrainian men, as they watch the Russians attack, can be heard shouting in alarm in the video.
“Innocent people are dying — kids and moms and grandmas.”
— Katerina Manoff
“It’s going to be an uphill battle,” Katerina Manoff told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Friday about Ukraine’s very existence right now in the face of Russian aggression.
“It’s a really big concern,” she said. “It’s devastating.”
Katerina Manoff, a Ukrainian-born American citizen, started her education nonprofit two years ago to connect Ukrainians and Americans and help foster two-way understanding. She spoke to Fox News Digital about her concerns for the people of Ukraine and what will become of her native land.
(Katerina Manoff)
Manoff, who founded ENGin (pronounced “engine”) in March 2020, explained, “We [build] connections directly between young Ukrainians and their peers in the U.S., Europe and all over the world. So we really wanted to keep it going — sort of as a resistance to Russian aggression.”
The organization pairs Ukrainian students with English-speaking peers. There is no charge for participants; the organization is donor-funded.
Participants, who range in age from 13 to 25, meet virtually for online conversational practice and cross-cultural connection.
One of Manoff’s students sent this image to her: A group of Ukrainians are shown taking safety in a bomb shelter outside Kyiv as the Russians attack their country.
(Katerina Manoff)
“The power of ENGin is that it connects people in America directly with the people in Ukraine,” she said. “It cuts across propaganda and disinformation.”
“The power of ENGin is that it connects people in America directly with the people in Ukraine. It cuts across propaganda and disinformation.”
— Katerina Manoff
Manoff said that “human connection — and understanding each other as humans — this is what has allowed our program to blossom.”
She added, “It’s our program’s biggest strength. It’s the most important thing to prevent war and promote peace in the world.”
“The great thing about our community,” she said, referencing the youth volunteers here in America, “is that they’re not Ukrainians. They are not coming in with any kind of bias. These are kids who by and large have zero ties to Ukraine.”
Pieces of a missile are shown lying on a village street outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. One of Manoff’s students sent this photo to her.
(Katerina Manoff)
The volunteers in America work one-on-one with Ukrainian young people — “and get a firsthand view” of what life is like there and what the people are like, she said.
She said that her organization’s youth volunteers “can tell the truth about what’s going on in Ukraine because they’re hearing it from their peers” who are actually in Ukraine.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed things dramatically: She’s been fielding and responding to messages and videos from Ukrainian students who are in fear for their lives.
“If Russia wins [this war], we would be shut down.”
— Katerina Manoff
Manoff said the Ukrainians she knew went from a general feeling of resolve — “we’ll get through this” — to something closer to abandonment, fear, resentment and even disbelief after concluding they were on their own.
Survival mode
ENGin, her nonprofit (enginprogram.org), is currently in survival mode, Manoff told Fox News Digital.
She expressed grave concern for the Ukrainian students who are feeling powerless in the face of a powerful enemy’s aggression.
“I mean, when you’re being assaulted by a very strong military force,” Manoff said, “and you’re just really a large group of kids — I mean, we have thousands of participants [in the program], but they’re really just kids,” she said of the Ukrainian students with whom she’s connected.
Several buildings in Starobilsk within the Luhansk Oblast region of Ukraine show significant damage because of shelling, according to images shared by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
(State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
She is focused right now, she said, on providing informational support and spreading the word.
“There’s a lot [more] we could be doing,” Manoff said about her group, “but we can’t do it [right now] while [Vladimir] Putin is destroying [Ukraine].”
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“If Russia wins,” she also said, “we would be shut down.”
Manoff believes Putin would never allow a platform such as ENGin to operate freely should he take control of her native country.
‘Need to support Ukraine’
Manoff advises her volunteers as well as her students to tell the truth about what is happening in Ukraine, she said. She wants the elected leadership of both countries to hear the voices of all.
Members of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, volunteer military units of the Armed Forces, train in a city park in Kyiv, Ukraine, last week.
(Associated Press)
She tells participants of her program “to call [your elected representatives] every day.”
“Tell them we need to support Ukraine and that there are ways to do that without putting soldiers or boots on the ground,” she said.
Manoff pleaded, “Innocent people are dying — kids and moms and grandmas.”
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“The more people who send that message, the more likely the U.S. will change its approach, which has been really sadly lacking so far,” she said.
Manoff has encouraged her volunteers and students to stay connected virtually.
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She said she never dreamed her work of running an educational nonprofit would include providing practical survival tips to Ukrainian youth — but that is exactly what is happening, she said.
