This is the fourth part in a series of interviews with Ukrainians who call Hawaii home. Read the first, second and third part.
Four Ukrainians who live in Hawaii spoke to Spectrum News Hawaii about what it has been like watching Russia launch a military attack in their home country. Since the war started on Feb. 24, they all said they have felt a range of emotions from disbelief, shock, extreme sadness, stress, fear, guilt about being away from Ukraine, and pride for the way Ukrainians and the country's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have stood up to the Russian invasion.
While for many in Hawaii, Ukraine feels like it’s on the other side of the world — it is a 12-hour time difference — Jairus Grove, a political science professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa said it is important to acknowledge that Hawaii has a Ukrainian community.
He said that people in Hawaii who aren’t from Ukraine also care about what’s happening, whether they are an anti-war activist or a member of the U.S. military. He encouraged those who might feel Ukraine is far away to take the time to engage, as everyone's participation is important for a flourishing democracy.
“I think Hawaii can feel very far away from everywhere, depending on where our attention is. The reality is, we're no more or less a part of the U.S.-Russian competition than any other part of the United States — given the military access we have here and the fact that it's a global competition,” said Grove. “We don't live in a world where we get to pick which region we're more part of anymore.”
“Every decision that gets made in Europe will impact decisions that are made here,” Grove added.
Crying for her country
Yuliya LaBrosse grew up in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, which is near the border with Russia, and has lived on Maui since 2005, when she moved to Hawaii to work on a flower farm as part of a university agricultural program. She now has citizenship in the U.S. and Ukraine.
She said in an interview with Spectrum News Hawaii that when she first learned Russia had attacked Ukraine, it “was a big shock.”
“If you would ask me the day before … I would never believe this,” said LaBrosse.
She said she has been crying since the war started.
“It feels like I don't have tears anymore to cry, but I can't stop crying,” said LaBrosse.
LaBrosse said she first heard the war had started when a friend in Ukraine told her “they are bombing my city right now.”
“I felt really helpless because I'm so far away. It was this unbelievable pain. It doesn't just go away, it hurts all the time. It's hard to eat. It's hard to sleep. You're worried and you keep hoping it's going to get better, but it’s not,” LaBrosse added.
After Russian-backed separatist groups seized government buildings throughout the Donbas region in 2014, LaBrosse’s mother joined her on Maui as Luhansk was a significant site in the conflict; Russian-backed separatists have controlled the area since then. Her father remained in Ukraine, but moved to Kreminna, which is northwest of Luhansk.
“I talk to him all the time. I have to check on him at least every morning and every night — sometimes more. I'm not sure he's telling me the truth, because he knows I'm going crazy here, but he says where he is now, it's quiet. They could hear explosions but very, very far away,” said LaBrosse. “It's okay for now, but he says the situation may change any minute.”
On March 9, a week after first talking with Spectrum News Hawaii, LaBrosse’s father evacuated. She said he could no longer stay in Ukraine, as war equipment had been set up in front of the building where he lived. He drove to the train station with his neighbors, and they boarded the first train they were allowed onto. It took them to the Polish border. He is hoping to go to Prague, where friends are waiting to take him in, but he told LaBrosse it will take him a few days to cross the border.
Unable to go home
LaBrosse traveled to Ukraine in March 2021, but said she has not been able to go to her home city Luhansk since 2014. Instead, she visited Kharkiv, which has been heavily bombed since the war started in February, and she fell in love with the city.
She described Kharkiv as “so beautiful” and said Ukrainians there were smiling and friendly. She said it had a welcoming vibe similar to what she has experienced in Hawaii.
“There was so much to do and see there,” said LaBrosse.
She said like her mother and father, many of her friends — former classmates from high school and college — also left Luhansk after 2014 and now live in cities across Ukraine, including in Kharkiv.
“They are very, very positive,” LaBrosse said about her friends in Kharkiv. “I'm calling them and I’m a mess, crying like crazy, but they are trying to make me feel better, like ‘don't worry, we (are) okay, we (are) still okay, we're gonna win.’”
Despite her friend’s positivity, LaBrosse said they are constantly running to their basements to hide because Kharkiv is under constant attack. She said another friend evacuated Kharkiv after living in a basement with his family for several days, saying the bombing had become too much to endure.
“I fell in love with the city. It’s so painful seeing it being destroyed right now,” said LaBrosse.
She has other friends who she said are going door-to-door in Kharkiv to offer elderly people food and water, since they are less mobile and in need of help.
“They tried to help each other,” LaBrosse said about the people she knows in Kharkiv. “Whoever needs help, people go there and help.”
She said many people in the city are communicating with each other, letting each other know when a building has collapsed and people need help.
Supporting Ukraine from Hawaii
On Feb. 26, LaBrosse gathered with her friends, other Ukrainians, Russians and Americans with Ukrainian heritage near the Kalana O Maui County Building in Wailuku, while carrying posters in support of Ukraine.
“My friends (in Ukraine) are asking to talk about them, to spread the word, and to come out, and to protest the war, and ask the governments to go and help,” said LaBrosse.
After the rally, LaBrosse said the office of Maui Mayor Michael Victorino called her to say they wanted to raise the Ukrainian flag and she shared her flag with them for Ukraine Solidarity Day, which was held on March 2.
“We had another gathering … where (the) mayor did the proclamation and raised the flag. It was beautiful,” LaBrosse said. “My dad personally said ‘please tell everyone who come thank you, we really appreciate it.’”
Like the other Ukrainians in Hawaii that Spectrum News Hawaii spoke with, LaBrosse is using her social media profile to share information with friends and raise money to send to Ukraine.
“It makes us all feel so much better when people talk more about it and spread information. We just are hoping that more and more people will step in and this will stop,” said LaBrosse.