American professor describes his evacuation from Ukraine

In 2020, Mercer University professor Dr. Chris Grant was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to live and conduct academic research in Ukraine. First, the pandemic delayed his plans to move from Georgia to Kyiv. Now, his plans have changed again due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In January 2022, Grant and his 12 year-old daughter left Kyiv after direction from the U.S. State Department to evacuate. At the time, he believed it was an abundance of caution. Now, he’s grateful they left when they did.

“Today, when I was looking at bombs going off all over the country, including Kyiv, you go, ‘Oh, I’m very glad that they got us out,’” Grant said.

Grant hopes to return to Ukraine to continue researching and teaching but acknowledged that it may be unrealistic any time soon.

“There has been a realization that this may well be a much bigger event than what had been seen in the past. And this after all, is the largest advance–military advance–in Europe since the Second World War,” says Grant. “There have been wars over here before. Not of this magnitude.”