Vasyl Matsyuk, a Yale Divinity student, grew up in the fully Democratic Ukraine only to see it ravaged by a war with Russia that began a year ago in February.  The Russian conflict has long roots. Under the previous Soviet regime before Ukraine became a sovereign nation, Vasyl’s parents and grandparents had endured years of religious discrimination and hardship as Protestants. Now, Vasyl is grappling with how his religious studies inform the harsh realities facing relatives and friends as they defend themselves against bombs and missiles in a country he only knew as peaceful and free.

Many Roads to Here is a production of The Immigrant Story, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon. This episode was produced by Fran Silverman. Our audio editing was done by Todd Baize. The original interview was conducted by Fran Silverman at the New Haven Public Library, which has graciously provided space for our podcast work. Our executive producer is Sankar Raman.

This episode is made possible by a generous contribution from the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation.

For more stories, visit theimmigrantstory.org/manyroads, listen live at prp.fm, or stream us wherever you get your podcasts.