Ukraine family escapes war, settles in South Bay
by Garth Meyer “Very nice city, used to be, 2005, it was village, it grow into city. Bucha. It’s a very nice place to live. Was.” Lesia is her name. She came to America Nov. 11 – to Redondo Beach – with her husband, young daughter and the family dog, byway of a program called United for Ukraine. “Russian military was in our town. Absolutely occupied. Helicopters shooting. Everything explosion. So many fire in the city. “We stay underground for 12 days. In very small place. Three by three and a half meters. Three kids. Five adults. “A place for vegetables for winter,” she said. They had electricity for nine of the days. “After that we were wet, everything get wet (from outside),” she said. “You cannot stay on wet mattress, you just feel so cold.” Deciding they had little choice, the group left the basement. “Big line of cars, went through Russian post, it wasn’t first try. Day 14 did not allow.” The next day, they got to leave, and drove to another part of Ukraine, 350 kilometers away, a village, where Lesia’s neighbors’ had family members. Lesia and her husband, Roman, were trying to send their daughter, Eliza, to Lesia’s sister in Malta. They went to the border of Moldova and…
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