GRANDVIEW, Mo. — During the month Yaro Rudenko spent in his home country of Ukraine, he witnessed several heart wrenching and frightening moments.
"Where I was staying at, every five minutes a bomb would go off, one time at 3 a.m.," Rudenko said. "I woke up because the house was shaking like an earthquake, and we ran in the basement and I thought that could have been my last day."
The 26-year-old Grandview resident arrived in the United States when he was just a toddler.
His family fled after the fall of the Soviet Union due to religion persecution, but it was religion that drew him back when Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
"I felt as in this hour as a Christian, I need to go and help in this time of crisis and be the light and hope in this darkness," he said.
Rudenko went by himself in March to the warzone.
He connected with his five uncles in Kyiv who are pastors in the capital city.
Using three vehicles, they delivered necessities to Ukrainians who couldn't or chose not to leave.
"They were in tears. And they said, 'You finally came to us.' They said, 'Since the start of the war for three weeks, no one ever has given us food.' And they said, 'We tried to go to in a town by us, but they wouldn't give us food because we're not from the town,'" Rudenko said.
Rudenko saw first-hand the damage his cousin's home sustained after narrowly avoiding being hit by a Russian missile.
"For sure there could be more documentation of the war crimes that are happening," he said. "Because a lot of times what I saw with my own eyes, the western news didn't even portray the evil that was happening."
He plans to return to Ukraine on Monday, this time, for two weeks in his mission to continue helping others
"I don’t know what can happen in the future. And because of that, the urgency is to go and still share the message of hope and give food to those who need it," Rudenko said.
KSHB 41 News has compiled a list of resources to support Ukrainians.
