Voices from Vinntysia: Yuliia Kashpruk

One of the most meaningful aspects of the Boulder–Vinnytsia Sister City relationship is the opportunity to build genuine human connections across continents. Through this series, we invite residents of Vinnytsia to share their experiences, reflections, hopes, and challenges in their own words.

Our first contribution comes from Yuliia Kashpruk, a resident of Vinnytsia, writing on June 21, 2026.

"Your support, concern, and friendship truly mean a lot.

These past few days, the air raid alerts have become more frequent again. We have learned to live with them, so it is not as frightening as it was at the beginning, but it is still difficult. Whether you want it or not, every siren brings stress and anxiety. We all hope that this nightmare will end soon.

What we are witnessing now is truly a war of drones. Among all this metal in the sky, there seem to be completely new rules of warfare. I watch many programs and listen to podcasts, including those discussing how rapidly drone technologies and artificial intelligence are developing. Sometimes it feels as if Ukraine has become a testing ground for these technologies. The thought that AI may soon control drones on a large scale is unsettling, because machines do not understand the deeper human consequences behind their actions.

The saddest part is the human cost. The war has taken away many people we knew – friends, relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. Everywhere across Ukraine, cemeteries are filled with rows of Ukrainian flags, each one representing a life cut short and a family forever changed.

Despite everything, we continue to work, support one another, and believe in a better future.”

Yuliia's words remind us that behind every headline are families, friendships, careers, dreams, and communities doing their best to endure. The Sister City relationship exists to strengthen those human connections and to stand together in solidarity, friendship, and hope for the future.