LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas woman who traveled to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees, is hoping to assist a woman from Kyiv as she hopes to relocate and start over in the United States.
“You cannot believe that it is happening in our time,” Ukrainian refugee Victoria Diachenko said of the war. “And on our planet somewhere.”
A month after she was forced from her home, Diachenko told 8 News Now about everything she has experienced.
She and her mother left everything behind in Kyiv, still remembering what they miss about their home while adjusting to life as refugees in Krakow, Poland.
“We want to go somewhere else,” Diachenko explained. “But we have nowhere to go.”
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Victoria Diachenko, is now a Ukrainian refugee searching for a new home following the tension in her homeland. (KLAS) -
Victoria Diachenko (KLAS)
She said she and her mother left Kyiv by train when the bombing started in late February, then stopped in the city of Lviv while mostly hiding underground.
Victoria said they were then forced to walk over the Polish border, through Warsaw, and to Krakow.
They’re among four million people who are now looking for a permanent place to stay, so Las Vegan Kathy Healy traveled across the world to help people like Victoria find shelter, clothes, and food.
“Everybody told me you need to go to Krakow to help,” Healy said of her journey.
Healy said she and Victoria found each other at a restaurant when Victoria noticed she was from America and asked for her help.
“Victoria walked over to my table, she was in the same restaurant with her mother,” Healy recalled. “And she said to me, can you help?”
What Victoria wants more than anything else is to live and work in the U.S., but she’s hit some logistical roadblocks. She and Kathy hope someone in our community could have the right connections.
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Healy said. “Or an opportunity.”
This way, Victoria can forge her path and start over after a journey few could ever imagine.
“We don’t know what and when will happen to any of us,” Victoria concluded, referring to herself and other refugees.
Healy told 8 News Now she plans to stay in Prague and Poland to help refugees for another four weeks.
Victoria has a friend in the United States paying for a hotel room for both she and her mother, but she will need to find a new place for them to stay after April 4.