NDSU Professor on Local Ties to Russia-Ukraine Conflict

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The Russia-Ukraine crisis has more ties to our region.

Around 30-40% of North Dakotans have German or Russian heritage. Their ancestors came from what is now known as Ukraine.

Michael Miller, a professor at NDSU, is also the Director of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection and he’s worried about what might happen to port cities with Russia’s invasion.

“We don’t know how many days will the capital, Kyiv, how it will stand and our concern is more the villages in Odessa because that’s where we would visit. Of course, based on reports, Odessa was one of the first cities that they wanted to take because it’s such a valuable port city on the Black Sea,” says Director of Germans from Russia Heritage Collection Michael Miller.

In years past, Miller would lead a group of NDSU students to Ukraine, where they would visit cities like Kyiv and Odessa.

Their last visit was in May 2019 with no signs of going back anytime soon.