ATHENS, Ohio — The mayor of Athens, Steve Patterson, went to Ukraine for 8 days.
He partnered with an organization that works with the U.S. Agency for International Development to visit a city similar in size to Athens in Ukraine.
While in Ukraine, Patterson visited a local university. When he was getting ready to begin a speech to the students, air raid sirens went off.
“The air raid sirens went off and we ended up having to continue our engagement in an air raid shelter underground,” said Patterson.
Patterson said for him, the experience of the sheltering led to a lot of unknowns. But, for the students there, it was routine.
“For them, this has become an every day or every other day occurrence where their lives are interrupted and they have to shelter underground,” he said.
Patterson and the students spent about an hour in the shelter. While they weren’t hit, he did worry about hearing the sirens blare again.
“It weighed on my mind when I was over there. It weighed on my mind when I was going to sleep because the air raid sirens could go off anytime,” said Patterson.
Patterson said seeing the strength of the Ukrainian people was special.
“They love their country and they will do anything to defend their country,” he said.
Patterson said one of the things he kept hearing over and over during his trip was that people were thankful for the United State’s funding to aid those in Ukraine.
“Just extremely appreciative stating this would’ve gone a different direction had the U.S. not helped in the way they had. But they also would like to see continued funding to their war effort,” said Patterson.
He is sharing his story about Ukraine to lawmakers in Washington DC in March to encourage them to continue sending money overseas. Patterson said when he came back to the U.S., he couldn’t get the struggle of the Ukrainian people out of his mind.
“It was hard. I was emotional to where I kept thinking about what they deal with, the challenges they have to work through there day after day,” said Patterson.