'They're ambassadors of Ukraine,' Ukrainian national rowing team competing in Head of the Charles

CAMBRIDGE - For the first time, the Ukrainian national rowing team will compete in the Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend.

It's a rower's dream to compete here and for this team it's an experience that goes beyond the sport.

"For us to be here in Boston it's a chance to talk with people and to tell our stories and also to show the world we are still alive," rower Olena Buryak told WBZ-TV.

When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, Buryak fled to Poland. Her husband, a world record holder and Olympian, is still there fighting for freedom.

"When you write to your friends of relatives 'How are you today?' and they don't respond for a few hours, it's heartbreaking," said Buryak.

The rowers and coaches are all displaced from their home country so they've been training together in Bulgaria. This weekend they will compete together on the Charles River among 11,000 rowers from 27 different countries, proud to wear the Ukrainian flag.

The team is here thanks to the head rowing coach at Simmons University who was once their teammate. Andrii Ivanchuk asked the Head of the Charles to bring the team here and they did, all expenses covered with help from Delta Airlines and the Cambridge Office of Tourism.

"It's really important for them. They're ambassadors of Ukraine here. They want to remind the whole world the war is still happening," said Ivanchuk.

Buryak says Ukrainians are grateful for all the support.

"Please continue to support us. It (gives) us a warm heart," she said.

Ivanchuk is asking the local Ukrainian community to come out this weekend to support the team.