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Two people living in Ukraine with ties to the D.C. area told WTOP that the Russian invasion is cementing the Ukrainians’ resolve, and hoped people in the U.S. keep the pressure on.

George Sajewich, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is in Kyiv with the Ukrainian armed forces’ volunteer medical battalion. He spoke to WTOP from a basement where he’s taking shelter, waiting for action to begin.

“Ukraine is my traditional ancestral homeland,” Sajewich said. “And so I figured I just got to do something. And if I could fight, I would go out and take up arms and fight.”

He did fight in one of the self-defense companies (“Ukraine pretty much did not have an army” at the time, he said) in the Maidan revolution in 2014. This time around, “I’m a little old for that.”

He said he’s learned that “the Russians kind of like to shoot at medics … because they say, and it’s true — a medic can save 10 soldiers, so he’s worth like 10 soldiers.”

Sajewich said he isn’t concerned for his safety, “but my family back home in Chicago is — really, they’re calling me every 20 minutes or so. … So I’ve got to promise to be careful. But I’ve got a lot of great friends here, and we support each other, and we can’t be afraid.”

He said he was angry at the U.S. government, and President Joe Biden, over the response so far. “He promised sanctions from hell. And I don’t see them. And the Russians — they just keep on going. And Putin is making a laughingstock of the leaders of the free world, the West. And it’s about time they finally realize what this guy is all about.”

His advice to Americans: “Get in touch with your senators and your congressmen and bring this up, because this is not right. You know, a promise is a promise.”

From Kyiv to Lviv

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Myron Wasylyk, who moved from D.C. to Ukraine 30 years ago, said Wednesday started off as a normal day in Kyiv, where he’s an adviser to the CEO of Naftogaz Ukraine, the national oil and gas company. By the late morning, however, “We started to get pretty intense rumors about an imminent invasion.”

When he got confirmation from embassies and other sources, he sat down with his wife and “we just decided that that was the time to leave. So we packed the kids in the car and we drove seven hours to Lviv,” in the western part of the country. They saw Ukrainian tanks on the highway headed toward the border with Belarus, and they arrived in Lviv about a half-hour before the bombing began around Kyiv.

He said the progression of emotions worked quickly: “It’s a shock. And then you go to fear, and then you go to bewilderment. And from there you go on to — you know, hardening and then resolution.”

He said that’s where the Ukrainian people are.

“People are basically resolute and motivated to fight, and we’ve seen the different battles that are going on around the country. I think it’s fair to say that there will be no winners in this war. And for Putin to think that he can win — you know, he’s kidding himself.”

In Lviv, “We feel a little bit safer here than I think people do — our friends back in Kyiv, for sure.” Still, he added, “I think it’s going to be a rough night. Everybody’s expecting tonight to be a rough night and tomorrow to be a rough day.” [related_gallery align=”none”]

Sanctions

Wasylyk said the big question about the U.S. from the Ukrainians he knows is, “Why are the Western sanctions not so significant?”

He added, “The first round of sanctions was viewed here on the ground as not being very resolute. And people wanted to see more.” His suggestion: “Sanctioning the Central Bank of Russia, which is really sort of where they’re financing their war chest, if you will — if those sanctions were to even be raised, I think it would really cause them to de-escalate in a significant way.”

Wasylyk’s children, being very different ages, are taking it in different ways.

“Our 13-year-old understands perfectly what’s going on. And she’s following the events on social media, the news. Our 3-year-old is not focused on what’s going on here. They’ve been on spring break this week, so there’s no school. But I think, for a lot of kids, it’s quite traumatic.”

That said, “I think Ukrainians are very grateful to the Biden administration for their support and for the president’s leadership in calling out [Russian President Vladimir] Putin on this whole war game that he’s planned and is executing,” Wasylyk added.

He said the U.S. needs to stand firm on sanctions and raise the costs for Putin himself.

“Because as I said before, there can be no winners in this war. And, unfortunately, Putin believes that he can win, which is just not possible. So the message to Washington is keep up the pressure — keep the allies together. I think that the Ukrainians are ready to fight the fight, but they need backup.”

WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.