UST Prof From Ukraine Sending First Aid, Ambulances To Frontlines

MINNESOTA — Paul Gavrilyuk, a University of St. Thomas professor who spoke Wednesday at a fundraiser for Ukraine in Stillwater, is working to send critical supplies to his homeland as Ukrainians continue to resist Russia’s invasion of their country.

Gavrilyuk is working with Minneapolis’ Holy Trinity Orthodox Church to ship food and medical supplies to Ukrainian civilians, as well as protective gear for voluntary defense units that have popped up throughout the country over the past two weeks.

A shipment of several thousand “highly effective” tourniquets recently reached Ukraine, Gavrilyuk said, and he is now organizing a shipment of vests for the civilians-turned-soldiers.

"People back in Ukraine receive them as if this was literally help from God, because it could be life-saving," Gavrilyuk told Patch on Thursday. "It’s simply the difference between life and death."

RELATED: Ukraine Fundraiser In Stillwater Nets $6K For Relief Efforts

Gavrilyuk is also working with a group in Lithuania to purchase as many used Toyota Land Cruisers as possible to serve as makeshift ambulances and medical transports to remove wounded soldiers from the battlefields of his homeland.

“I imagine that by the time we’re done, Lithuania will be completely out of used Land Cruisers,” Gavrilyuk said.

Gavrilyuk said he has contacts at the central hospital in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, including a friend who is now driving one of the medical transports.

As a 50-year-old Ukrainian native who can still shoot an AK-47, Gavrilyuk said he asked himself why he wasn’t returning to fight in his homeland.

But as a university professor who “might not make for a great voluntary defense fighter,” he felt he could help most by turning “my tongue and my pen … into a peaceful weapon.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do for the last two weeks by helping with fundraisers,” he said, adding he is "involved in some form of peaceful resistance" almost 24/7.

While many governments and relief organizations are working to help the millions of refugees who have fled Ukraine, Gavrilyuk said he will focus on supplying and supporting civilians and voluntary defense units who remain in the country.

Gavrilyuk believes voluntary units are key to keeping control of the capital “if the government in Kyiv falls” to Russian military forces. These units have no centralized command, so “they cannot be defeated simply by decapitating them,” Gavrilyuk said, noting that he has heard that up to 150,000 people are serving in such units.

“I simply would still like for these refugees to have a country to return to,” Gavrilyuk said.

Citizens who haven’t taken up arms are also contributing to the defense effort in “low-skill” but highly effective ways, Gavrilyuk said, such as destroying targeting markers for Russian airstrikes and painting over road signs to disorient their enemies.

Gavrilyuk said some road signs are being repainted to tell Russian soldiers: “If you go straight, go f--- yourself. If you go left, again, go f--- yourself. And if you go right, go f--- yourself and go back to Russia.”

“I truly am in awe of people there,” he said. “But I certainly hope that the ultimate victory would not be bought at a very, very high price.”

Gavrilyuk — who was born and raised in Kyiv in the 1970s while it was still under Soviet control — said he was “horrified but not surprised” after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

There has been a “frozen conflict” in the eastern part of the country since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea, Gavrilyuk said, but the current aggression is on a “totally different" and “incredible” scale.

“What is happening now is sheer imperialist fantasy and lunacy,” Gavrilyuk said, adding that Russia is “the kind of brother that Cain was to Abel.”

Gavrilyuk called Russia’s claim that it invaded the eastern part of Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking areas is “absolutely ludicrous” and compared it to the United Kingdom sending its military to the United States or Canada because English is the primary language there.

Gavrilyuk said cutting off Russian oil production is key to limiting Putin’s ability to continue the war in Ukraine, drawing a historical parallel to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 after its oil and gas trade was compromised.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports, following pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Energy exports had kept money flowing into Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.

While he worries for his homeland, Gavrilyuk said he is also concerned about what Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing to his own people.

Putin’s war is ruining Russian citizens’ economic opportunities, and “Russia is very quickly being disconnected from the world,” Gavrilyuk said, adding that Putin may be “destroying (Russia) faster than Ukraine.”

Gavrilyuk urged people to reach out to their Russian friends and colleagues and “listen to what they have to say.” He also noted that economic sanctions on Russia could provide critical opportunities to change civilians’ minds about the war.

“One’s conscience can be aroused by an empty stomach,” he said.

However, Gavrilyuk doesn’t expect to see a “turning point” in the war until NATO helps Ukraine establish air superiority over its land.

“Until it has significant authority over the air, it would be difficult to speak of a turning point,” he said. “This said, I am morally confident that, ultimately, this war is simply unwinnable for Putin.”

“Putin thought in his wicked dreams that this could be a very swift victory,” Gavrilyuk added.

Ukraine's military said Wednesday that more than 12,000 Russian troops had been killed in the conflict, according to a report in the Kyiv Independent.

A U.S. official on Wednesday estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed was more likely between 5,000 and 6,000, CBS reports.

The U.S. official also said 2,000-4,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the first two weeks of the war, CBS reports.