"Is it bad?" Olena Shoptenko explains why she hasn't brought her son to Ukraine since Russia's invasion

Famous Ukrainian choreographer Olena Shoptenko, who has been living in Austria with her son for more than two years because of the war in Ukraine, admitted why she has never brought Oleksii home. She also told how the boy adapted to life abroad.

Olena spoke about this in an interview with OBOZ.UA. According to her, her son had a hard time getting used to life in Austria.

"Oleksiy hasn't been to Ukraine since the beginning of the great war," says Shoptenko. "We will come back with our son as soon as it is safe for him because I left Ukraine only for his sake. I myself am home about every two or three months."

Olena admits that her son Oleksii had a hard time getting used to his new country of residence: "At first, it was quite difficult, like all children who come here. A different language, a foreign environment. He does not understand, he is not understood. Well, let's just say it like it is: we, the mothers, were also in a state of confusion, which, of course, affected the children. Now, in terms of development, Oleksii has made a very powerful leap. First of all, the language: he started speaking German. However, we do our best to preserve Ukrainian. Oleksii could read Ukrainian before he started school, and I am very proud of that! I also want him to start learning English, because it's no secret that languages are very important. They develop the brain and make life much easier."

The artist says that she pays special attention to the Ukrainian language: "Unfortunately, when I was growing up, Ukrainian culture was not strong. I was brought up in a Russian-speaking family, my parents were from Siberia. I learned Ukrainian only at school. But I could easily communicate in Ukrainian even before the full-scale invasion took place. And in order to have good pronunciation, she had special lessons with a teacher. Now Oleksiy and I go to classes at the Ukrainian development center. We read a lot of Ukrainian books and fairy tales that I bring back from Kyiv. The local culture is different. You know, at some points I even started to worry a little. I thought: my child will grow up on something different from what I did at his age. Completely different cartoons, and fairy tales. And then I realized: why is this bad? I grew up with "Nu pogodi!" and similar bad Soviet stuff. And this is not ours either, but it is interesting in its essence and its approach."

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