DAYTON — Damaged, destroyed, burning — videos show a startling scene in Ukraine as Russia continues to invade.
Ukraine’s president said Russian troops have killed more than 130 civilians.
“You don’t know whether there is going to be a home to come back to,” Evgenia Nemirovska, a Ukrainian woman living in Southwest Ohio said, “we don’t know if there is going to be the graves of our grandparents or in some cases like mine, my father’s grave to go back to.”
The amount of anxiety and stress right now for Ukrainians is hard to put into words.
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Nemirovska said she’s thankful that her immediate family is safe in America, but worries for her friends still in Ukraine.
It’s a situation that can consume people.
Constantly checking the news, social media every minute, looking for updates and hoping for good news.
Nemirovska said she is emotionally drained.
Tears she thought she had no more of filled her eyes.
She recalled the first moments she realized Russia was invading Ukraine.
She was looking at her computer and saw the city of Kyiv being bombed.
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“At that moment everything slowed down,” Nemirovska told News Center 7′s James Rider.
She frantically tried to find out what was going on. There wasn’t much information yet, so she tried calling her friends in Ukraine.
Her friend answered and Nemirovska began rapidly asking questions.
Her friend was just as in shock as Nemirovska.
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“She’s like ‘Do I call my mom? Is she alive’,” Nemirovska said.
There are bunkers in some cities of Ukraine but not everywhere.
One of Nemirovska’s friends is a mother of two. Her husband is at the border fighting. She had to seek refuge on her own with their children.
Nemirovska said she thought Russia might invade Donetsk and Luhansk, but never the capital Kyiv.
She described the anxiety that she has been living with.
“That feeling when you go on the roller coaster and you’re flying off from the top, the highest thing,” Nemirovska said, “everything inside of you falls.”
She recalls the stories of war from her grandmother and wonders if this will create a new generation of war survivors.
Nemirovska joined other Ukrainians and even Russians at Home of the Brave Park in Loveland to support her fellow Ukrainians.
Other cities across the state, such as In Yellow Springs, are also holding candlelight vigils in support of Ukraine.
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