Bristol University Ukrainian student wants to rebuild homeland

Mr Tokovyi has tried to raise awareness of the suffering in Ukraine while he has been studying in the UK

A Ukrainian student who graduated top of his university class says he wants to help rebuild his country.

While Tomas Tokovyi was studying biochemistry at the University of Bristol, his home city was being bombed.

The 21-year-old got the highest grade of the 120 students on his course despite spending much of his final year campaigning for the war effort.

"I knew coming to the UK would be life-changing, and it was," he said.

Mr Tokovyi was 13 during Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, and he remembers travelling 50 miles from his home city of Bila Tserkva to see the protests in Kyiv.

He recalled: "Almost a million people came from all over Ukraine to protest.

"It wasn't a very peaceful protest, many died... a lot of people who protested were university students."

Excelling in the UK

In 2017, Mr Tokovyi was one of just three Ukrainians given a HMC Scholarship to study A-levels in the UK, a moment he said his whole family knew would be "life-changing".

Tomas Tokovyi graduated with the top marks out of 120 students on his course in Bristol

At his placement school Pangbourne College, near Reading, Mr Tokovyi got straight As, captained his maths team to competition wins and earnt a place at the University of Bristol.

At Bristol he was elected as a course representative three years running and volunteered as a tutor in deprived areas of the city.

'You feel helpless'

In his final year, Russia invaded Ukraine.

"To say I was shocked is to say nothing," he said. "When I read the news, I froze. It's still hard to believe now that it's happening.

"Soon my home city, including where my mum and brother live, was being bombarded. You feel helpless, like you are a passenger," he said.

Mr Tokovyi's home city of Bila Tserkva has been the target of Russian bombing

Mr Tokovyi has organised several awareness-raising events, including one at the University of Bristol that attracted 200 people.

He is now studying for a masters in genomic medicine at the University of Oxford.

He said: "There are many more projects coming. I don't want to be that guy who after the war is over thinks 'I could've done more'.

"With the knowledge I get from Bristol and Oxford I want to develop a really strong biotech and entrepreneurial culture in Ukraine, to help rebuild my home and rebuild my country."

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