BATON ROUGE - Roman Rubchenko rallied Tiger basketball fans back in the '90s under Coach Dale Brown. Now he's trying to rally Americans in support of his homeland Ukraine two years into the war with Russia. 

Rubchenko said he escaped the lies and suffocating control of the Soviet Union to come to America and be part of a more free and just society. When he came to LSU and took on Shaquille O'Neal's scholarship after O'Neal went to the NBA draft a year early, he found both a team and a family in Baton Rouge.

"At the age of 17 I defected from my home country, and I did not know anybody. So within in a year I landed here in Louisiana and Coach Brown became like a father figure to me," Rubchenko said. "Granted I did not understand half of the words he was using because he's very eloquent and he's called the great motivator not without reason." 

Rubchenko has been living in Ukraine since 2008 and has witnessed Russia's multiple campaigns to assert their influence and control over his homeland and neighboring countries.

“I witnessed all of the atrocities Russia has been committing against Ukraine from the very beginning and the violent escalation we witnessed in 2022," he said.

In early 2022, Rubchenko left Kyiv and started preparing supplies, food and fuel after warnings of Russia's attack came in. 

"The day I was finished with my preparations and I was supposed to go back to Kyiv, I woke up to the news that the war had started," he said.

Over 10,000 civilians in Ukraine have been killed by Russian strikes since the campaign began two years ago. They now fear support will start to fade.

"Right now, psychologically, it's very difficult because we're sensing that the West is tired of our fight to freedom and that some politicians in this country and in Europe as well are starting to ask unfair questions in my opinion about whether we should continue to support Ukraine, whether this war in important to the United States or Europe," Rubchenko said.

Before making his stop in Louisiana, Rubchenko stopped in Washington, D.C., and spoke with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to discuss why he believes helping Ukraine is a wise move for the United States. 

"I'm pleading with Mike Johnson and his constituents today...to provide that aid to us, because that aid is this difference between life and death for Ukraine," Rubchenko said. 

Rubchenko said he hopes that the world doesn't forget the conflict's urgency and continues to have a desire to help Ukraine.

"In the metaphor of David and Goliath, we all know of the fable, David wins despite the fact that he's smaller, but he's smarter, he's more accurate and he's more cunning. But one thing he's got in his hands in the slingshot," he said. "And so Ukrainians, we are David and we would like to fight and are willing to fight. But please give us the slingshot."