Family escapes war in Ukraine and comes to Connecticut

By Courtney Zieller and Evan Sobol

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    MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut (WFSB) — A young family leaves everything they’ve ever known to come to the United States.

It’s a follow-up to a story Eyewitness News first told you about on Tuesday.

A Middletown woman buys plane tickets to New York City for her sister, niece and nephew, so they can be safe from war.

Viktoria Zakhidna says she left everything behind, her home, her family, her belongings.

After 48 hours into being in the U.S. she is still trying to wrap her head around what has happened.

27-year-old Viktoria Zakhidna filmed her travels from Ukraine to Poland.

She wasn’t alone.

Dozens of cars are seen sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic as families try to escape Ukraine.

“Everyone tried to get out of Ukraine. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow and you have to save your kids,” said Viktoria.

And that’s what she did.

Viktoria took her two young children, 4-year-old Elizabeth and 6-year-old Daniel with her.

Her sister, Mariana, who Eyewitness News met Tuesday at the Ukrainian National Home in Hartford, bought three plane tickets.

The three flew from Poland to New York.

Mariana filmed video from inside JFK International Airport where she picked up her family Tuesday night.

With only one piece of luggage in tow, the travel came with yet another cost.

“I’m happy I’m here with my kids in a safe place but they were crying when they had to leave their grandparents, their grandmother, grandfather, their father. They were crying,” Viktoria said.

Along with her family members, Viktoria also left her husband behind.

Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are being told to stay to fight.

“That is hard to imagine. A lot of thing is hard for me to think about. I have to explain to my kids that we are not here just for small period of time. We are here for a long period of time,” said Viktoria.

The three are now staying in Middletown as they try to navigate what to do from here.

“I cannot believe it happened. I cannot believe it happened to me. I cannot believe I am here. I have to do something with this because it’s like a changed life,” Viktoria said.

Right now, her husband and other family members are doing ok.

Viktoria worked as a graphic designer, her husband was a soccer coach and her children were enrolled in school, so what’s next for this family?

Where do they go from here?

That part of the story will be Friday starting on Eyewitness News at 5.

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