LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Kutztown University Government and Philosophy Professor Paula Holoviak remains in close contact with friends in Ukraine, some now forced to send their families away.
"One of them told me he had sent his family, yesterday, to the Polish border," she said. "He has a wife and two girls, so they were on the way to Poland. But, of course, he is required to stay behind."
Another one of Holoviak's friends, a professor in Ukraine, has not left the country either.
"We were texting back and forth, and she said, 'The sirens are going off. I have to go down to the basement.' So that's how we ended our conversation," Holoviak said. "A lot of people are in great danger. It is a huge humanitarian crisis. I would hope that there is a cease-fire while these talks are underway."
Facing additional sanctions and the suspension of the international banking platform SWIFT, the Russian economy is hurting. Now, NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange stopped trading Russian companies.
It's all making a dent faster than Holoviak expected.
"They are severe enough to cause the Rubel to tumble, the average citizen not to be able to do their banking, and certainly now they're cutting off supply chains for Russian manufacturing," she said.
That doesn't mean Putin will be deterred. Holoviak believes someone from the Russian inner circle would have to step up.
"Remove him from power, say 'no,' maybe take over the military," she said. "Putin truly is a dictator."
As battles continue, Holoviak said the world has underestimated the will of Ukrainians.
"We were very aware of this strong desire to fight for their country," she said. "It's not unlike a group of farmers in the colonies defeating the greatest army in the world, at that time, in the American Revolution."
Still, Holoviak is concerned by the three-mile caravan of Russian vehicles outside Kyiv, fearing they could surround the city and destroy crucial infrastructure.
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