NORTH PORT, Fla. — As Vladimir Putin praises his Russian fighters as national heroes, those pushed out of Ukraine are finding safety in the Tampa Bay area.
It's been two years since the beginning of the invasion. In that time, more than 3 million Ukrainians fled their war-torn country.
One of those refugees, Raisa Korytska, and her family are now seeking refuge in North Port, where an uncertain future stretches before them.
"We pray a lot, and we ask God to stop this war," Korytska said. "I cannot see the end of this war. It continues and continues and it becomes bigger and bigger."
As her home country of Ukraine enters its third year of war against Russia, February brings up memories of fear and confusion, recalling when Russia first attacked her homeland.
"It was a very scary and terrible moment for our country," she said.
Korytska said she and her husband watched friends and family go off to fight and would have joined them, if not for their four children. In the summer of 2022, through a refugee visa program, they were allowed to come to the U.S.
They chose to go to North Port where her husband, a car repairman, had a client who took them in. Korytska was emotional as she recalled how they welcomed them with an Eastern European soup.
"When we come here, they prepare everything for us," Korytska said. "In the kitchen, there was borscht for us. And we were in a peaceful country."
In North Port, they've been embraced by the local Ukrainian community, including Inia Tunstall, a member of the Ukrainian American Women's League. Tunstall said all are concerned for Ukraine's future.
"It's clearly, clearly genocide. There's no doubt about that," Tunstall said. "There is a future if there's going to be peace. They can start rebuilding. But their future right now is to win the war. They have to win it."
As the future in Ukraine is uncertain, so too is the future for Korytska and her family. Their "temporary protected status" in the United States will expire in April 2025.
"We hope and we pray for a finish in the war because it is very terrible, it is very terrible," Korytska said.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, at 10 a.m., people will gather at St. Mary's Ukrainian Church in North Port to pray, commemorating the second anniversary of what they call "Russia's genocidal war on Ukraine." All are welcome to attend.