OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Vladyslav Plyaka, a Ukrainian student at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, hosts advocacy events to spread awareness about the war in Ukraine.
- Vladyslav Plyaka came to Wisconsin three years ago for a high school exchange program
- Plyaka helped host “Drones – The Game Changers of the War in Ukraine," an exhibit at the UWO campus on Wednesday, Sept. 24
- The exhibit was a part of UWO Center of Civic and Community Engagement
Vladyslav Plyaka was born in Ukraine.
He came to Wisconsin as a high school exchange student and planned to stay in the United States for nine months.
“Because of the increasing Russian invasion of Ukraine, I couldn’t come back home to Ukraine, so I applied for colleges and that’s how I ended up here at UW Oshkosh,” Plyaka says.
While he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to see his family in Ukraine again, he’s using his time in Oshkosh to advocate for his home country.
“I follow a motto that, if not me, who else?” Plyaka says. “And as I'm here, one of the only advocates for Ukraine, especially on campus, I know that I cannot just wait for someone else to do stuff. I must be the one who is going to do stuff.”
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Part of his advocacy is hosting events with UWO Office of Civic and Community Engagement.
On Wednesday, Plyaka hosted “Drones – The Game Changers of the War in Ukraine” at the Reeve Union.
The exhibit featured the same drones used for warfare in Ukraine. Plyaka also flew in guest speaker Davyd Piasetskyi, a Ukrainian veteran who is experienced in flying drones.
“This event, the purpose of it is to tell Americans that the war is still going,” Plyaka says. “Secondly, to tell the change in the drone warfare and change in the battlefield itself.”
Plyaka says he hopes his advocacy spreads awareness and educates his peers.
“I feel proud of it because I’m doing this, and I’m being active," he says. "People learn from me, and that’s really valuable,” he says.
