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Ukraine school, partnered with ASU, was set to open next month

Posted at 7:04 AM, Feb 28, 2022
and last updated 2022-02-28 09:04:19-05

In the capital of Ukraine is the American University Kyiv, powered by Arizona State University, which was set to officially welcome students next month.

The school's founding rector, Roman Sheremeta, is now watching the devastation from afar.

He lives in Cleveland but is originally from Ukraine. He moved back there in January to help open the school.

It's a separate institution from ASU, but they partnered together to give Ukrainian students a first-of-its-kind American learning experience, with more than 5,000 college courses being offered.

Even as tensions grew, Sheremeta was there helping get everything together to welcome students in just a few weeks.

He took a flight back home to visit his wife, not knowing the next day Russia would invade Ukraine. He's now watching from thousands of miles away as his hometown is destroyed and lives are lost.

"I just cried. I called my brother, my mom, my dad, tried to figure out where they are," Sheremeta said.

When ABC15 last spoke with Sheremeta, he said his family in Ukraine was safe.

He has a message to Americans watching the devastation unfold from afar.

"This is not the end of the story, and the west has been very inactive in terms of their responses. They didn't believe this would happen in the 21st century, and Putin will go as far as the west allows him to do," he said.