MORRISVILLE, N.C. — It’s been nearly two years since Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.

As the war continues, one Ukrainian family has found a safe haven in the Tar Heel State.

What You Need To Know

  • Ruslan Golovashchenko was stuck in the Triangle at the height of Russia's invasion on Ukraine in 2022

  • Two years later, his family has opened a dance studio in Morrisville

  • The Golovashchenkos still have family in Kiev, Ukraine

Ruslan Golovashchenko first spoke to Spectrum News 1 two years ago at the height of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

“Our family at the moment are split, and we are not together, and I’m worried about this," Golovashchenko said in 2022.

Golovashchenko was already in the United States before Russia launched its attack. Meanwhile, his family was back home in Ukraine's capital Kiev, fleeing for their lives.

He knew the owners of Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Durham, and they let him lead a class then, with proceeds going to help him reunite with his wife and two daughters.

Just a few weeks after that class, Golovashchenko and his family were back together in Romania.

Almost two years later, the couple is not only together with their kids, but they’ve also opened their own Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Morrisville.

“Dreams can come true," said Olena Golovashchenko, Ruslan's wife and co-owner of the studio.

With a little help from friends in America who led the regional Fred Astaire Dance Studio, the Golovashchenkos are living the American dream.

“They say come, come to us, and we help you, and they helped us, and here we feel very comfortable, and we don’t feel ourselves immigrants, we feel ourselves at home," said Golovaschenko.

The Golovaschenkos showed us a video of themselves writing a message of blessings and prosperity for their studio, on a floorboard.

It’s tradition for dance studios to do that, flip it, and clay it on as the final piece of the floor.

“Here we want to use dance to help people to become happy," said Golovashchenko

But in their home country, war rages on, two years later.

Ruslan’s mom still lives in Kiev.

The couple hopes for an end to the death and destruction.

“We have a lot of friends, a lot of Russian friends been to Russia so many times. Russia, Belarusia and Ukraine, we were like brothers, we were different nations, but always going together so we can’t believe it can be like that," said Olena.