Andriy Romanyuk, assistant professor at the Computer Sciences and Informational Technologies Department of the UCU Applied Sciences Faculty, has worked at the university since 2015. At the start of the full-scale war, he went to the front to defend Ukraine.
Romanyuk recalls that on 23 February he lay down to sleep with the thought that the war would start in the morning. Unfortunately, that’s what happened: “Classes were still being held. I led a few classes at UCU, and the next day, 25 February, I went to the army recruiting office. There were many people there. In that stream of potential volunteers, I also tried to sign up. One moment they told us that there was already a division signed up, chosen, no more room. But they were recruiting for the Territorial Defense Forces. I’m a military specialist, an anti-tank gunner. I called the recruitment number, named my specialty, and they told me to come right away. In 20 minutes, I was ready and at the recruitment place. So I’ve been in the Ukrainian army 10 months now.”
During a short assignment in Lviv, away from the front, Andriy Romanyuk appealed to UCU students to continue their studies, regardless of difficulties: “Students should understand that, after this war, our nation must go to a new level. And it is students who should, regardless of the war, find the strength in themselves to do everything to develop themselves, in order to help our country rise to a higher level. You, students, should devote your time now to become excellent specialists and, whenever you have a desire to slack off, remember those young men and women who are now at the front.”
Romanyuk says that his family is his support in this war: “I should return from the war and thank them and repay them for everything. It was my decision to go to the front. And it’s one thing when I’m now somewhere in the east. My wife has to give everyone advice, make all the decisions, and carry everything on her shoulders. My absence affects not only me, but many people. Those wives who are now in the ‘rear guard’ have it no easier than those guys who are on the front.”
