Reflections: "The War in Ukraine: Present and Future" with Denys Sharpylo" (4/19/25)

On Saturday, April 19th, CommUnity Zone had the pleasure of hosting our friend Denys Sharpylo for an insightful discussion about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Denys is a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, in his junior year studying Quantitative Economics and Data Analytics. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Denys has been in the US for six years attending boarding school and now college.

To start our conversation, Denys shared some background information about how he got to PA, his family, and his studies at Dickinson. Two of his classmates accompanied him to the Zone! The bulk of our time together was spent talking about the current situation in Ukraine. Denys' knowledge of the situation is vast and detailed. He gave suggestions for a variety of news sources to follow for accurate information, including Reuters. 

Denys gave a variety of suggestions for how Americans can support Ukraine: 

• Buy products from Ukrainian businesses! Denys remarked that he recently purchased a new backpack from a Ukrainian company. Supporting businesses in the country is essential to their resilience and independence. SpendWithUkraine has some great options.
• Follow Ukrainian media, including 1+1 Media. They have reporters on the ground covering the everyday situation accurately.
• Call your legislators to encourage their support of Ukraine and demand for Russia to sit down at the negotiation table with Ukraine. Denys pointed out that Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire discussion that has yet to be answered by Russia. Find your legislators and their contact information here.
• If you're able, donate to aid organizations on the ground in Ukraine, including the United Nations Crisis Relief fund.

The CommUnity Zone is incredibly thankful to Denys Sharpylo for spending time with our community on the 19th. Special thanks to the Kristjanson-Gural family, too, for connecting us with Denys and helping "market" this event.