Selbin Pacheco, his wife, Olena, and their two small children – ages 7 months and 3 years old – were living a quiet, happy life in Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine right by the Russian border.
Pacheco is one of thousands of Ukraine residents who were forced to flee the country following the Russian invasion.
He says he has no ill feelings towards the Russian people and says most Ukrainians have family members on both sides of the border.
“There’s no animosity between Russian people and Ukrainian people,” Selbin said.
A few weeks ago the couple began to have real concerns about Russia attacking the country because of what was being reported in the news.
They told some of their loved ones of their plans to leave the country and received skepticism.
“We told some of our relatives, and some of our friends and they said, ‘No! You don’t need to leave, nothing’s going to happen,'” Selbin said.
But when Selbin got word the United States embassy had closed on Feb. 13, he reached out to the embassy in Poland the following day. There officials told him to get out and get out now.
“When I told him I lived in Kharkiv, he said, ‘Get out right now. Move, move, move.'”
So the couple grabbed what they could and took a 12-hour train ride west to the Polish border.
They grabbed only the essentials. Olena didn’t even have time to meet her mother before they left.
“Just everything happened so fast,” Olena said.
When they got to the border, they were held up for several days until they could get a passport for their 7-month-old. Then traffic began getting worse, so they decided to walk across.
Right after they got into Poland things in Ukraine deteriorated dramatically. Now they fear for their friends and family who are stuck there.
“We’re very emotional, when this happened, especially when they started attacking our city. Our friends, our family and us on the other side unable to help,” Selbin said.
It took a few more days to get Olena’s visa and then finally on Sunday evening, after 12 long days of travel, they landed at LAX. They’ll be staying with Selbin’s sister in Van Nuys for now.
At this point, they have no idea what their future holds. They don’t even know if they’ll have a house to go home to in Ukraine.
They said being safe in America has not given them much relief.
“My mom is there, my sister and my friends,” Olena said.
Selbin used to teach English and Olena worked as a data analyst. Now they will have to figure out their next steps to build a life in their new home.
“All our life is there,” Selbin said. “We are happy our children are OK, but part of us is still over there.”