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U.S. direct budget support to the Government of Ukraine has enabled roughly 618,000 school and university employees to continue working, helping prepare youth to drive Ukraine’s recovery from the war. 

Olena Primierova is an associate professor of finance and financial markets at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). She was in Kyiv on February 24. Like other Ukrainians, she was awakened by the sound of bombs exploding.

Her first thoughts were about work and her students at the university, before worrying about her own safety.

“On the one hand, I understood that we were being bombed and I had to rescue myself, but on the other hand, I thought, if the students come for a lecture, then I have to come too,” Olena recalls.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the university temporarily closed. Olena spent the next month collecting uniforms for her husband and 29 others who volunteered to defend their homeland.

NaUKMA, one of Ukraine’s oldest and most reputable universities and a longtime USAID partner, was fortunately able to adopt an online teaching model without much trouble. In early April, Olena resumed teaching virtually. She gave online lectures, as many of her students had been displaced by the war. 

Olena estimates that about one-third of her students went abroad, and many others were internally displaced. She, and the university, helped students continue their studies from partner universities in Europe and the United States.

Despite the unprecedented challenge of teaching during wartime, Olena explains that all of her students were able to attend virtual classes and take exams. For exams and thesis defense, the university allowed students to make up days in case sessions were disrupted by air raid alerts or disrupted Internet connections.

USAID assistance has helped make it possible for Olena to continue serving her students. She is one of roughly 618,000 educators (including 108,000 university employees) who have received their salaries in full and on time due to the United States’ direct budget support to the Government of Ukraine. This financial support, amounting to $8.5 billion in total, has enabled Ukraine’s government to pay teachers, healthcare workers, and first responders, in addition to funding basic public services, humanitarian assistance, and pensions. 

In addition to educating the next generation of financial professionals, she has found herself helping students deal with trauma.

"The war, of course, affected our students’ mental health. We even have those who survived months surrounded [under siege] in Mariupol,” she explains. “These shared traumatic experiences have affected our students, who have difficulties concentrating and retaining information. We’ve taken this into account and have tried to conduct more discussions with students and give fewer tasks that require memorizing material or reproducing formulas.”

At the same time, Olena recognizes that her work provides its own form of therapy.

"My work is a way of protecting myself from thoughts about the war and the pain that accompanies that,” she explains. 

Olena views her work as contributing to Ukraine’s future:

"One of our main tasks has been to educate and graduate students so that they are ready for life in a post-war Ukraine. This is our contribution to restoring stability to our country.”

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"One of our main tasks has been to educate and graduate students so that they are ready for life in a post-war Ukraine. This is our contribution to restoring stability to our country.”
"One of our main tasks has been to educate and graduate students so that they are ready for life in a post-war Ukraine. This is our contribution to restoring stability to our country.”
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Ukraine dbs