Days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tatyana Shlyak couldn’t shake the fear and uncertainty she felt about the future of her homeland.
She found a measure of solace and an outlet for her patriotic feelings earlier this week when she was invited to a private flag-raising ceremony beneath the dome of the Illinois state Capitol, where for many years she has been the supervisor of tour guides.
Shlyak had tears in her eyes as she watched the blue and yellow ensign wave and flicker in the strong winds alongside the U.S. and Illinois state flags.
“Being in the moment and seeing all that, it was very emotional. You know? It’s very difficult to talk about the emotions because over the course of those five, six days I become more and more numb,” Shlyak, 57, said during an interview in the office of Secretary of State Jesse White, who helped arrange the ceremony. “It was a lot of sadness. At the same time, it was a lot of pride.”
Shlyak’s native Kyiv, the nation’s capital, is among the cities under siege by forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hundreds of civilian casualties have been reported.
The state started hoisting the Ukrainian flag in solidarity as the conflict began and will continue to do so for the near future.
In a confined space just below the dome, Shylak recorded video of two statehouse employees tying the flag of her native land to a long piece of rope before it was raised. Shlyak said she took the video and posted in on Facebook in an effort to show the Ukrainian people they’re not alone.
The children of a couple of her college friends still live in Ukraine. One of them “liked” her video of the flag raising on Facebook, something Shlyak took as a good sign.
“So, I know they are relatively OK,” she said.
Shlyak grew up in Kyiv, a city of about 2.8 million, when it was part of the former Soviet Union. She has fond memories of her childhood but she also remembers her father telling her, “you have to get out.”
“I was growing up with the knowledge, ‘I don’t want to stay behind that Iron Curtain,’ ” she said. “I say pretty often that I did not come here for bread and butter. I came here for freedom.”
She went to college in Kyiv and studied economics, got married and, following the collapse of the USSR, had a son.
Despite Ukraine’s newfound independence, Shlyak, along with her husband, their son and her mother, moved to the United States in 1995.
“At that time, the country was so poor,” Shlyak said of Ukraine. “We had basically struggled with everyday food.”
Shlyak worries that any strides made by Ukraine since the 1990s could be in jeopardy. But she is inspired by the resilience of the Ukrainian people, especially average citizens willing to take up arms against a Russian military superpower. She said “I refuse to think” that the Ukrainians will be defeated, though she knows the country needs the support of the world.
She’s also baffled by the fact that the Ukrainian people are under attack by soldiers who speak similar languages, and “look the same.”
“A few days ago,” she said, “I heard that one of the Russian soldiers was saying, ‘I don’t know where to shoot, they just look like me.’ “
Asked what she’d like to say to Putin, Shlyak said she’d take a pass.
“Honestly, I don’t want to talk to him,” she said. “I don’t believe he understands the normal human words and emotions. I don’t want to say he is crazy … what can you do with crazy person? … He’s probably delusional.”