Oakland University PhD student and family return to Michigan from Ukraine with help from professor

Oakland University professor helps get Ukrainian PhD student back to Michigan

A PHD student at Oakland University, from Ukraine, has returned to safety in the US.

FOX 2 - A PhD student at Oakland University, from Ukraine, has returned to safety in the US. Her family was forced to flee the country, and she has her own professor to thank for helping her get out.

"We’re not relieved at all because you cannot be relieved while your country is being bombed," said Khrystyna Shchubelka.

Shchubelka and her husband Arun Mohan, got back to Metro Detroit Tuesday, but their hearts and minds are still in Ukraine.

The couple were in Khrystyna’s home country in the city of Uzhhorod with their 6-month-old son Nikolas when Russia invaded last week.

"We were used to news that Putin is going to invade us, but we never thought it would be a real full scale, country invasion," she said.

They, like others, ran into trouble getting out of Ukraine. They walked to the border of Slovakia where Mohan was temporarily detained because he did not have a Visa.

"We already talked about that - like if they’re going to stop me, you and baby are going to go to Europe and I’m going to stay here," he said.

He was ultimately allowed in last Saturday. The family went from Ukraine to Slovakia, then Prague to Paris, where they boarded a flight to Detroit Metro Airport, landing Tuesday afternoon.

"I called her and said where are you guys? She said, 'I think we’re on a bus to Prague," said Taras Oleksyk.

Oleksyk, Shchubelka’s professor, who is also Ukranian, picked the family up from Metro Airport.

He, along with others professors and students from OU, helped raise the airfare to get the family back to the states after Turkish Airlines sold them tickets for an overbooked flight. It would take more than a week to get their money back.

Oleksyk, like Shchubelka, still has family in Ukraine. Both are helping people who had trouble getting out of the country.

Khrystyna had her mom open her home to four Nigerian students who were stuck in Ukraine, now they’re safe in Hungary.

"We’re not the heroes in this story," Oleksyk said, "The heroes are out there right now. They’re fighting and they’re trying to stop this, so it doesn’t happen to the rest of the world."

Right now their biggest concern is how they can help Ukraine defend itself against Russia and raise awareness to what is happening overseas.