Help Rebuild a Life and a Country – Support Vika’s Journey

Vika Pinchuk is the 48-year-old wife of a Ukrainian Navy Captain, Oleksander, known as Oleks to friends and family. Oleks is currently fighting in the Ukrainian war against Russian invaders. Vika is also the mother of two: her adult daughter, Yana, is completing her training as a physician in Kyiv, and her 13-year-old son, Sasha, lives with Vika and the family dog, Holly, in Odessa. Vika is a trained nurse who previously served as a civilian EMT aboard a Ukrainian naval warship when the family lived in Sebastopol, Crimea. In 2014, the Pinchuk family lost their home in Crimea to the Russian invasion. They fled to Odessa to start a new life.

In 2017, the Pinchuks came to Newport, Rhode Island, for a year while Oleks was enrolled as a student in the National Command College at the Naval War College. He stayed in touch with many of his classmates, and at the start of the current war in 2022, they encouraged him to get his family out of Ukraine for their safety, even as Oleks stayed behind in the line of fire. The family came back to the only place they had ever lived outside of Ukraine and spent a year and a half in Jamestown, RI, as wartime refugees, supported by friends and neighbors. They returned to Ukraine in August 2023 to be closer to Oleks whenever he was able to enjoy even a short reprieve from the fighting. They hoped to help rebuild Ukraine as the war was briefly trending in the right direction at that time. Since their return to Odessa, Vika and Sasha have been active as volunteers in a charitable organization that provides aid to disabled, injured, and displaced youth in Odessa.

Now, a year and a half later, after dramatic attacks that have decimated their city of Odessa and dramatically impacted their lives, Vika and Sasha are looking to return to Jamestown and Newport again, but this time to change their lives in a different way. Vika has been accepted into the Boatbuilding and Restoration Program at IYRS. Coming from a place that has seen so much destruction, she is excited to embark on the necessary training to restore what has been so horribly damaged. This opportunity will also allow Sasha to return with her and attend school in Jamestown while Vika’s husband and Sasha’s dad, Oleks, continues to fight for the liberation of Ukraine. Vika and IYRS plan to pursue externships for her to complement her course of study, focusing on restoring historically important wooden architectural details, furniture, and artifacts. Upon completion of her studies and her return to Ukraine, her goal remains to actively participate in the restoration of the artistically and historically important buildings, furniture, and artifacts in Ukraine that have been severely damaged or destroyed by the ongoing war.

The Opportunity – How Can You Support Both IYRS and Its Student, Vika Pinchuk?

The budget of an International Student to attend the 20-week IYRS Wooden Boatbuilding and Restoration Program and the mandatory accompanying externships inclusive of both Direct and Indirect Costs is approximately $90,000 per year or $180,000 for the full course of study. As stated previously, International Students are prohibited from employment during their course of study and cannot receive any payment during the externships. Vika and Oleks will fund some of the costs through their personal savings and Oleks’ military paychecks. Also, friends are generously providing substantial in-kind support to mitigate the expenses of daily living to a large extent. Legal expenses for the visa applications are being provided pro bono. However, there will be a significant shortfall despite these best efforts. In order to successfully obtain the prerequisite M-1 visa (and an M-2 visa for Sasha as an accompanying minor dependent), IYRS and the applicant must attest and prove full and complete financial security. So, having only some funding in place is insufficient to obtain a student visa. Therefore, IYRS has established a restricted Ukraine Student Scholarship Fund to raise a minimum of $180,000.00 for the support of IYRS to host Vika, who has been accepted as a student in the IYRS Wooden Boatbuilding and Restoration Program starting September 8, 2025. The goal is to have sufficient funding to fully cover both direct and indirect costs (including but not limited to estimated living expenses) to support Vika and Sasha Pinchuk and the prerequisite attestations leading to a successful visa application. Thankfully, we have already achieved great success with some large donations made directly to IYRS, so we are more than halfway to our goal, despite what the funding tracker indicates here.