LEXINGTON, Ky. — An American woman is now back at home in Fayette county after escaping from Ukraine.
What You Need To Know
Svitlana Duychak is now back at her home in Lexington
- Duychak took cover in a bomb shelter the first five days of the war
- She traveled to Ukraine to visit her family
- She said it’s her worst nightmare and hurts to think about
Svitlana Duychak is now back at her home in Lexington
The Lexington woman was in Kyiv in early February to visit family, only to take shelter when the war started.
“We were sleeping in the bomb shelter for five days,” said Svitlana Duychak, who is recalling how she escaped from Ukraine in late February. “Me and about 60 people, maybe 70, at that time they lived in a basement a bomb shelter.”
She said the large building and heavy metal door provided a sense of safety.
The Lexington landscaper said she traveled to Ukraine on Feb. 6 to visit family, but the turn of events left her scrambling to survive.
“We were afraid at nights. Is that Russians who [are] hiding in the woods around the city? They came with weapons and we don’t have anything to protect ourselves,” Duychak said. “We don’t have anything, just you know, praying to god and that’s actually saved us.”
It was her worst nightmare.
“I’m trying not to think about it because I’m depressed,” Duychak said. “When I think about Ukraine, about what happened there, what is happening right now, where people are dying, [my heart breaks].”
Now over 45 days or more into the war, her heart continues to break.
“They not just came to destroy, to kill, but even to make people suffer. To do a terror to them, to rape kids, rape girls. It just makes me sick… to think about it that how it’s possible,” she said.
But her big question remains: Why is Russia invading Ukraine?
“For what they have, so much land is not enough land,” Duychak said. “They have so much poor villages and cities. Why to not do something good for your citizens? Why don’t you go in your neighbor and do this mess and kill them, destroy them?”
After the five days in the bomb shelter, Duychak got on a crowded bus that took her to Slovakia, where she was greeted by her husband and four kids who left Lexington to reunite with her.
“I think that I’m lucky and blessed as they were saved and came here in one piece, you know?” Duychak said. “But emotionally, morally, emotionally. I’m a wreck, you know, because I’m always everyday thinking about them and you know.”
Duychak is collecting donations to send to people in Ukraine. If you’d like to help, her email is svitlanaduy79@gmail.com and her number is 828-280-4201.