A Ukrainian scientist in Slovakia is supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom, and the planet

Inna Melnyk came to Slovakia in 2016, and is researching ways to tackle pollution.

Inna Melnyk (third from left), and her colleagues V. Kyshkarova (Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region), O. Porodko (Lviv), N. Chechitko (Bucha, Kyiv Region), H. Yankovych (Uzhgorod), and O. Semeshko (Kherson).Inna Melnyk (third from left), and her colleagues V. Kyshkarova (Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region), O. Porodko (Lviv), N. Chechitko (Bucha, Kyiv Region), H. Yankovych (Uzhgorod), and O. Semeshko (Kherson). (Source: Archive of Inna Melnyk)

The week before Russia invaded her homeland, Ukrainian scientist Inna Melnyk had a vacation. She and her husband and their two children, who live in Košice, planned to visit Kyiv. Their relatives advised them to postpone their trip, and they did.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Days later, her friends, fellow students, acquaintances, and even acquaintances of acquaintances began pouring into eastern Slovakia in the wake of the Russian invasion – and her Slovak colleagues at the Institute of Geotechnics at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) in Košice started helping, providing housing, clothes and even pots and pans for the new arrivals.

SkryťTurn off ads

Many colleagues, even those abroad in other countries such as Sweden, Italy and Slovenia wrote or called the scientist to offer help, which they then supplied to her colleagues from Ukraine.

Related article Ukrainian scientist in Slovakia: ‘The situation is catching up with us’ Read more 

"Together with my husband we met the refugees at the border, drove them to the city, helped with tickets, bought medicine for those who had stood in line at the border, as it was cold then. We also bought and delivered medicine and haemostatic agents for the army," Melnyk recalled in an interview with The Slovak Spectator.

"My husband gave the car that he had left in Ukraine to a classmate on the front line."

I.Melnyk is not the only Ukrainian at the institute, which also hosts PhD students from Ukraine. Even they helped – donating blood and buying equipment for the Ukrainian army, which they still do to this day based on requests from their friends. Melnyk's brother, who lives and works in South Africa, also buys equipment for people on the front lines. It is then up to Inna and her husband to ship it.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

The New Stations of the Cross combine old and new.

New Stations of the Cross to combine surviving remains and contemporary architecture.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad