In the midst of finals, Ukraine is never far from mind for these university students

Despite being in the middle of final papers and prep work for final exams of the winter term, a group of students at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., have had something else on their minds: The war in Ukraine.

Viktoriia Ostrovska is an international student from Ukraine who came to Waterloo in January. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

"The first week that the war started was really hard on me and I started having panic attacks and [I was] crying nonstop. I was constantly worried about the lives of my loved ones," she told CBC News.

Ostrovska says she hasfamily who lived in the east region of Ukraine, including her grandmother who lived near Mariupol, but they moved in with Ostrovska's parents in the central part of the country after the invasion.

Wanting to help,Ostrovska joined a group at the university called Laurier Helps Ukraine.

It was formed by a group of Polish and Canadian students on campus Elzbieta Morawska, Melissa Tuniewicz, Sebastian Lipka, Cecilia Markiewicz, Kayla Rische, Olivia Serratore who saw what was happening in Ukraine and wanted to act.

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The group has raised money to send to those impacted by the war and they've also worked to raise awareness.

Local efforts

Sofiya Bezruchko, of Kitchener, helped start the group because students felt the need"to do what was right." Her family is hoping to bring an aunt and cousin to the city from Ukraine in the near future.

"There's this silent sort of language that happens between you and your loved ones and just realizing thatthere may come a moment where I'll be here, they're there, and I might never see them again," she said.

"Your families are your anchors to the world. And when your anchor becomes destabilized, it's just such a painful reality."

She signed up for the alert system for the air raids because she wanted to know when they were happening and when they were over as a way of keeping tabs on loved ones.

"Then I would wait one or two hours for my family to contact me, to let me know that they were safe," she said.

She's worked with Laurier Helps Ukraine to hold a raffle which raised $2,000 that has gone to groups like Help Us Help and The Canada Ukraine Foundation. She's also volunteered her time at a local church to sort items for Ukraines coming to Waterloo region.

"We're hoping to do more and we're hoping to engage students more. I know like exam season, everything kind of slows down because everyone's too stressed about schoolwork," she said.

"We just want to do more because I think that it's so important to bring more focus and stress and just have people unite more."

Understand the conflict: Student

Not all members of the group are on campus. Yaroslav Fedorchuk is an international student at Laurier who is currently in Ukraine. He has been volunteering with local groups there to run humanitarian aid between the western and central part of the country. He's also worked with a youth group to create a video to explain to other young people what is happening in Ukraine.

WATCH|Laurier student Yaroslav Fedorchuk his volunteer work in Lviv, Ukraine:

Laurier student Yaroslav Fedorchuk helping in Lviv, Ukraine

2 years ago

Duration 2:26

Yaroslav Fedorchuk is an international student who attends Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., He's currently volunteering in Ukraine to move humanitarian aid between the western and central parts of the country and has worked with other young people to dispel myths about the war.

"The only thing that's really keeping me feeling safe is hope and trust and faith in our armed forces and our military that have been pretty successful in defending our nation from Russian occupiers," he said in an interview over Google Meet from Lviv.

He said his message to his fellow students is to be "more understanding of the conflict."

Fedorchuk says he recently got an email from a Canadian friend that started off with "Hey, how's it going?" followed by a casual question about the war efforts.

"And I felt kind of frustrated, especially because it is war. It's even if we are succeeding in defending our country, horrible things are happening in smaller towns," he said. "I would just like people to understand that horrible things are really happening, show the same empathy."

He urges people to trust only verified news outlets and not social media where information may be slanted or simply wrong.

"Russia is also working really hard on their information, intelligence warfare, when it comes to misinforming other countries and other people around the world. Because what they are doing right now is trying to persuade the world that what they're doing is just and completely OK to do," he said.

"It isn't a peacekeeping operation. It's a straight up invasion," he added, saying there is no justification for Russia's actions.

"I would just really love for not only Canadians, but people around the world, to understand who is the real villain in this story."

'Students shouldn't forget'

Back in Waterloo region, Bezruchko says local churches like Church of Saint Sophia in Waterloo and Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Kitchener don't just need donations, they need people to volunteer their time to help sort items, especially as more people come to Waterloo region.

She also pointed to aLaurierprogramcalled International Students Overcoming War. It's a student-led and student-funded initiative to help pay for tuition for people who come from countries impacted by war.

"They really need that additional funding because they've done some wonderful work by supporting students who overcame the war in Syria, students who are coming from Afghanistan," she said.

"We need student support because that's going to be an ongoing issue long term."

Ostrovska knows the next few months will not be easy for her family. Her father is working to support six other people.

"It will be really hard for my family financially. That's why I'm trying my best to help here," she said, noting that being an international student is adding to the financial pressure on her parents.

As her fellow students head out for summer breaks, she says she hopes they will not forget what is happening in Ukraine and how it's affecting people, not just in that country, but on their own campus.

"Living through a genocide, it's unthinkable. It's immoral. It's degrading. And it's hard to kind of wrap your head around," she said. "I would say that students shouldn't forget what's happening."

LISTEN|Why these university students want to help people impacted by the war in Ukraine: