People in Omaha Feel the Effects of the War in Ukraine  

By: Liam Fenwick, Reporter

OMAHA, Neb. – On Saturday night the Bob Kerry Pedestrian bridge was lit up blue and yellow in support of Ukraine. The war in Europe has already started to affect people that live in Omaha. 

Mert Ureten is a Turkish Citizen that lives in Omaha. He regularly travels back to Turkey to visit his family. He said he doesn’t know what to expect out of air travel in the coming months.  

“I generally fly from here to Europe first, then go to Turkey. So I don’t think air space will be closed. But if it gets really really big, Honestly I can’t, I can’t really tell,” Ureten said.  

Ureten doesn’t know how difficult it will be for him to travel back to his home country. But international relations experts seem to agree that the war in Ukraine is problematic for air travel in Europe.  International Relations Professor Dr. Elizabeth Chalecki has said closed flights have caused major travel issues. 

“Flights are being closed out of, Russian flights are being closed out of European air space. Russians have then in return closed European flights out of their air space.” Chalecki said. 

Chalecki also said the war in Ukraine will not only affect air travel, it will also affect gas prices. According to the International Energy Agency the United States receives 626 barrels of oil from Russia everyday. Chalecki also mentioned that the war in Ukraine could permanently change the energy economy.    

“If the west is serious about sanctioning Valdmir Putin because of his actions in Ukraine, Then this pretty well removes Russia’s gas and oil supply from western markets. Which means we either have to persuade our allies like Saudi Arabia or Canada or the United States or Mexico to produce more. To offset the demand or the loss of supply I should say.” Chalecki said.  

Chalecki said that Americans should know gas prices will not increase greatly, but it will cause issues importing oil in the near future.  

Chalecki also said the war in Ukraine will put more financial pressure on American consumers to use alternatives to gas.