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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Vladyslav Sirenko is a professional boxer from Ukraine stuck in Turkey. He was in the United States and was flying home just before the invasion began.
When he landed in Istanbul, his family told him to stay put. All he can do right now is watch on as family and friends do what they can to avoid attacks.
Many of his friends and family are stuck inside the country as Russia continues their invasion.
“They’re using a very dirty way to do a war. They’re bombing everything. First, they were bombing just military, but now they’re bombing civilian people’s houses and everything. It’s just unthinkable. It’s crazy.”
Sirenko says the women and children in his family have either fled to Holland or are moving to different parts of Ukraine that have not been reached by the attacks, while the men in his family are ordered to stay.
“The Russian government says they’re coming to Ukraine to help us. They’re calling our government nazi people. They’re calling our government bad. On those videos, you can see nobody is happy to see no Russians in our country. We’re independent and we want to be independent.”
Sirenko says inside some cities and towns, communities have resorted to self-policing while the military is busy trying to fend off the invasion.
“Men who know how to operate with guns and stuff – they’re making groups and they’re patrolling and trying to find somebodies who are stealing or doing bad stuff.”
As a boxer, Sirenko’s job is to fight, but joining this one, he says, isn’t as easy as just showing up. And that has been weighing on him since the attacks began.
“I even can’t explain that kind of feeling. I was getting ready to go home and go somewhere to get guns and start fighting. But it’s also not easy to do. First, they’re taking you and putting you to school. You must spend some time in military school. I wasn’t ready for that. I just want to fight.”
Sirenko is asking the international community to take over in the air.
“Everything that Ukraine is asking now is that you help to protect the sky. Everything else our soldiers will take care of.”
Because he’s stuck in Istanbul, Sirenko tells us he’s monitoring social media and trying to connect people back home who might be able to help each other find safety.
He’s also speaking out to try and cut through Russian misinformation.
“They’re just terrorists. They’re just doing very bad stuff.”
Sirenko said his hope is that other countries get involved because he thinks soon this won’t be just a Ukraine problem, but a world problem if nothing is done.