PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — One month into what Vladimir Putin calls a special military operation, at least ten million people — men, women, and children — are running for their lives. It’s a refugee crisis, the likes of which the world has not seen since World War ll.
On Thursday, officials in Washington said the United States will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. According to NBC News, the U.S. will allow entry through means including the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
Tania Skorokhod lives in Portsmouth. Her family and a friend made a harrowing escape to Moldova over the weekend.
“They had to go through four Russian checkpoints. I mean, everyone was crying. I didn’t sleep, was praying nonstop eight hours it took them to leave. My mom, everyone was crying, because we didn’t know if they were going to be alive. because [they] keep shooting civilian cars,” said Skorohkhod, who is from Ukraine and is a U.S. citizen living in Portsmouth, Virginia.
The group, including three small children, escaped unharmed but others did not. Based on conversations with family and friends still in Ukraine, Slorokhod offered an account of what happened to another family near her hometown of Kherson.
“At the Russian checkpoint, they started shooting their car. Their son, 5 years old, he got killed,” she said.
Tania says her uncle, who works at a major hospital that’s comparable to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, shared with her that the child’s grieving mother escaped to a hospital where loved ones were holding a ceremony to honor the dead child. While the memorial service was underway, Russian soldiers showed up to search the hospital’s basement and other areas.
“When she [the grieving mother] saw the Russian soldiers at the hospital, she took off and ran to them. She was trying to beat them and screamed at them: ‘You killed my son, you killed my son,'” said Skorokhod.
Tania is reaching out to local members of Congress in hopes of getting travel visas for loved ones. She will make way for them, including three small children, in her Portsmouth home. They left Kherson with very little clothing, supplies, and formula for a baby.
Now her concern is for elderly grandparents who have little food and medicine.
“I was begging her grandmother, ‘You can you go with them you are going to be fine.’ She said, ‘No this is my house; I was born here and I’m going to die here,'” said Skorokhod.
Skorokhod, who works for a major shipping company, says if her loved ones make it to Portsmouth, she will need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter. 10 On Your Side will follow the family’s journey to Hampton Roads.