GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro woman is concerned for several of her family and friends stuck in Ukraine as Russia continues to attack the country.
Dasha Chube has lived in Greensboro for 15 years but her father, sister, brother-in-law, grandfather, friends, and cousins are all stuck inside the eastern European country amid the Russian invasion.
"I called my father immediately," said Chube of when the invasion began. "We just couldn't believe that it was happening. I started crying. I was asking them if there was anything they could do (...) but at that point, it was hard to come up with a plan quickly."
Chube said her family had to stay in a basement and other friends have stayed in subway stations, in fear of missile strikes. She said many families don't have access to cars either.
"Those that are able to (drive), they don’t know what’s going to happen along the way, if the next city they’re (going to) be driving through is going to be under attack or not. So it is extremely scary. They are frightened," said Chube. "They are worried for their lives."
Her family is in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine and about 30 miles from the Russian border that has been under attack for several days.. They were able to get out of the city, but Chube said it is still not safe. An attack at a Kharkiv administrative building was right across from the university Chube attended as a student.
"We don’t know what (my family is) going to do, when they are going to be able to make it to the west of Ukraine," said Chube. "Right now they don’t have a car and where they are there is no transportation or way to get on the train so they will have to somehow find a way to walk or try to go on a highway and ask and see if the car will stop to pick them up to continue moving."
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Chube said her family is lucky to have made it out of the city, but have not been able to escape.
"There are so many older people (and) women with children who just do not have ability to get out and they are just sitting in their apartments waiting for the buildings to collapse and to be shot which is horrible, just awful," Chube said.
She is urging European countries and the United States to get Ukrainians to safety. Specifically, she said, she wants the U.S. to have a system to help Ukrainian refugees reunite with their families.
"It kills me and every other person who is here that we are not able to help our families," Chube said. "I don’t even know how to send money to them but even if I did they have no way of spending the money because stores are closed."
While Chube said the devastation and suffering is horrible, the spirit of the Ukrainian people is encouraging.
"I’m very proud of them," she said. "I think their resilience and the love for their country and love for their people and desire to protect their land it’s just incredible and I’m so proud to say that I am Ukrainian."