KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One couple that lives in Kansas City and is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, is sharing their experience during the ongoing war in their native country.
Volodymyr Polishchuk remembers when he received the message from his wife Iuliia's sister.
"Her apartment is overlooking a water reservoir, her sister was taking a picture of the sunrise and she happened to catch the rocket as it was coming over," Polishchuk said. "Ever since then, our lives have changed."
A life upended with regular checks on family in Ukraine, as they work around the clock to get them to safety.
"We’re trying to get her mom and her sister at least closer to the train station so they can at least board a train and leave," Polishchuk said.
They have many other relatives in a nation torn apart by war. It's a daily weight on this couple's hearts and minds.
"It’s so, so, hard," Iuliia Khreshchyk said.
Through grief, they're committed to their cause.
"We are from Ukraine, so we are going to fight through," Polishchuk said.
Their humanitarian efforts with the Ukrainian Club of Kansas City include QR codes for donations and to assist in an escalating refugee crisis.
The QR codes can be scanned below:
"I think everybody can make a difference, please provide any support through these times, Ukraine will not forget," Polishchuk said.
He and his wife say they cannot choose to disconnect from the fate of their homeland.
"A couple days ago, we had the siren for the tornadoes go off, just as a test," Polishchuk said. "We all felt something shake inside of us because it’s the same siren that goes off where our relatives live. We live in two different realties. We have a peaceful pleasant life that everyone enjoys, then we have the war."
A war that continues at this hour, as they anxiously watch from home.
