‘A year later. I still can’t fathom;’ Cedarville student still fears for her family and friends

CEDARVILLE — Friday marks the one-year anniversary since Russia invaded Ukraine, and for a local college student, this hits hard for her.

New Center 7 first spoke with Abigail Rist a year ago, and now, a year later, she still worries for her home country, friends, and family.

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Rist, a Senior at Cedarville University minoring in International Studies, once called Kyiv, Ukraine, her home. The first thing she thinks of when talking with her about her home country is shock and a lot of it.

“A year later. I still can’t fathom the fact that this is reality. This is what my friends are living through. This is what my home now looks like. The people, the culture that raised me are under attack. A year later there are still no words, very few words to be able to summarize this and fathom this,” said Rist

A year later, Ukrainians have shown resiliency, while some may not have thought they would. They are still continuing to fight.

“People want to fight for their sovereignty, for their for the pride of being able to study and speak their own language to be able to worship in whatever religion they choose to worship in. People want to live a normal life. And so people are going to fight for this. I think back to, Russia said that they wanted to have most of the country within three days. It’s by God’s grace and it’s everybody’s prayers that Russia does not have the country right now,” said Rist

>> RELATED STORY: Local college student shares concerns for friends, family in Ukraine amid possible invasion

Funds in the form of financial support and weapons have been pouring in from around the world in support of the Ukrainians. Every day citizens in other countries around the globe have shown unbelievable support to the Ukrainians a year later.

“The people who are over there fighting, living through who are living through this, who are on the front lines, they are people, not faces, and that is something that when you were so far away is hard to fathom, is hard to understand. Those faces are people who are working their hardest right now and going above and beyond every single hour of every single day to make sure that they are safe, that their loved ones are safe, and that their countries ultimately safe,” Rist said.

Friends and family of Rist are still in Ukraine and are fighting and thankful for the support they have received from so many around the world, but dealing with a lot.

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“My friends, they wake up every day and they choose to live life as normal as possible. Go to classes, send the kids to school, go to work, get together and play games in the evenings or come together to go to church. When the air raid sirens goes off, life stops ultimately, and people are tired of that. People want to live every hour of every day without having to run to a bomb shelter, without having to live with electricity, without having to go through the horrors that war has brought upon them. But ultimately, people are going to fight and they’re going to they’re going to win that is their sentiment. Whenever I talk to any of my friends. It’s good, how are you? I can’t wait to see you again. Especially once we live but once we win this war,” said Rist

Those in the Miami Valley who want to provide support to those still in Ukraine Rist says, “keep praying keeps talking about the situation the war in Ukraine. Keep asking your friends that you know who have loved ones over there, how they’re doing, continued conversation and continued prayer will help people not to forget truly the horrors and the destruction that is going on over there.”

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