Bohdan Dudka planned on taking an internship this summer, after his junior year at Pace University.

Now, he’s instead hoping to return home to Kyiv, to defend his country.

“It’s your dignity, it’s your responsibility, it’s just like, what can you do? I am a young man of the conscript age,” he said. “As I didn't run from the war, I was here already, it's just more a question of what I believe in. And just dignity and about our country.”

Dudka visited home for Christmas break, back when streets were bustling, and lit by cheerful Christmas decorations. Not long after he returned to Pace, his country came under siege by Russian invaders. Now, his family and friends in Ukraine fight to protect their country, and its capital city.

“As for Kyiv, it's more calm, but, recently, a rocket just targeted the house, like near the house of my girlfriend's, like the windows were broken out,” he said.

Reports from friends fighting in places like Mariupol are only more grim. And the war has already had a tragic impact on his family. Dudka’s mother died just days before he spoke to NY1.

“She was sick with cancer for almost a year, or more than a year,” he said. “And like when the war started, we just were unable to seek medical attention. And she was like getting worse and worse. And when we like, sought medical attention, it was already like too late.”

Dudka’s father is fighting in a territorial defense battalion. Dudka wanted to return home as soon as the war began — but he’d already paid for the semester, and with the war, his family won’t be able to afford another, so he’s staying in New York for now.

“If the war will not end by early May, I hope my father will let me go back, because he's quite strict about it. I’m trying to convince him, little by little,” Dudka said.

In the meantime, Dudka gets updates from his father and his friends, including a recent video they sent showing them taking out a Russian reconnaissance tower.

Dudka says his education may be disrupted whether he returns to Ukraine or not — he and some of the other eleven Pace students from Ukraine are working on financial aid solutions.

“Almost all who are like international international students whose family and parents are in Ukraine, they're like just unable to pay,” he said.

This week, some of those students met with the university’s president, Marvin Krislov, who is pledging support.

"They're afraid for the health and safety of their families. And some of them are having trouble even communicating with their families,” Krislov said. “We've reassured them that we will help them — we'll help them with their basic needs, and we'll also help them try to make sure that they can have an academic path during a very uncertain time.”

All that worry and uncertainty can make it tough to focus on school.

“We had exams before the spring break like two weeks ago. It was hard to concentrate but like do your best,” Dudka said.

Pace is directing some money to students from Ukraine from its Pace Cares fund, meant for students facing extraordinary circumstances. The school is also providing counseling to students who need it.

For now, for Dudka, his finances and studies are the least of his worries.

“I'm still quite young, so I have time to finish my education. It’s not a really big issue in comparison to all other stuff we're facing,” he said.