PENFIELD, N.Y. — There are heart-wrenching stories of families being separated in Ukraine as the Russian invasion there continues.
A Rochester-area man is in contact with his cousins, who are leaving their children at the border and returning to help.
John Adamczuk's cousin, Natalia, is from Kyiv, Ukraine.
She and her cousin packed up their children and fled Kyiv when the attacks began.
“The two moms took the four daughters to the Polish border and have now crossed into Poland," Adamczuk said.
It took nearly two days, but the mothers and their girls, ages 10 to 18, are safely in Poland. But it’s where they will part ways.
“The two moms are heading back to Ukraine," Adamczuk said.
A relative from Florida is meeting them to bring the children to the United States.
“I talked to them about maybe trying to come here and start anew here,” Adamczuk said. “They said ‘this is our home. We want our children to know the Ukrainian language. We want them to know the Ukrainian culture.’ As much as they can probably have a good life here in the United States, Ukraine is their home and they want to defend it and they want to live there.”
The mothers say they will bring back supplies and help in the war against Russian troops and do everything they can to stop the invasion.
“[Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] intent is to do away with Ukraine, and that’s what they’ve told us,” Adamczuk said. “My cousin has warned that if they do not win this war, this is the last chance that Ukraine has and they’ll be done with.”
In what will most certainly be an unimaginably emotional moment, Natalia and her cousin will say goodbye to their daughters and return to Ukraine.
“It’s hard because I’ve got my children. To say goodbye to them and think that I’d never see them again, it’s difficult. Yup, I can’t imagine trying to do that," said a choked-up Adamczuk.
It’s a sacrifice they believe is for the sake of their children and their country.
“I think that they know that the kids will be safer in the United States. They will be well taken care of,” Adamczuk said. “They have husbands and parents. It’s their homeland, and that’s where they feel they have to be for now.”
He asks anyone who can to donate to one of the organizations collecting for Ukrainian humanitarian aid and calls on world leaders to step in and stop Putin.
“There are millions of people that are going to die and are already dying of no cause of their own,” Adamczuk said. “These are innocent God-fearing wonderful people and they’re being slaughtered and it needs to be stopped.”
The families pray for peace until they are reunited.
