"It’s pretty hard. You cannot see your family. You don’t understand what will happen to you, how it’s going and what will be next," Oleksandr Bazilevych says about his time in the Ukrainian army. (Mills Hayes)
Ukrainian American Dr. Yakov Gradinar was living in Minnesota and working as a prosthetist when the war started two years ago. He and his business partner and CEO, Yury Aroshidze, have now opened up three clinics, with another on the way in Kyiv, Ukraine.
"They get much better quality of prosthetic care," Gradinar said about the over 160 Ukrainian soldiers, civilians, and children they’ve brought to the U.S. "They get [a] break from sirens from all this pressure from war."
Ninel Nosachova, who goes by Nellie, said she’s nervous to return to her home country because she says people have changed, grown angrier, and some of her friends have died in the war. (Mills Hayes)
Resources are running out as additional aid is stalled in Congress, with Republican lawmakers insisting new funds be linked to action against illegal border crossings.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized Tuesday at a meeting of Ukraine allies that the U.S. "will not let Ukraine fail."
The latest Pew Research Center poll shows that over 30% of Americans say the U.S. is providing too much aid to Ukraine.
The national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, increased to $34.54 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office indicates that the national debt will grow to an astonishing $54 trillion in the next decade. Should that debt happen, it could risk America's economic standing in the world.
Ukrainian-American Walter Anastazievsky is the refugee services director at the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis. His parents and grandparents fled Ukraine after WWII and he felt like this was an opportunity to give back.
"I’ve literally had someone say, ‘Oh I thought the war was over.’ Pay attention, because people are suffering," Anastazievsky said.
Anastazievsky estimates the center has helped over 1,000 refugees get access to housing, health care and employment.
US SENDING UKRAINE $300 MILLION IN WEAPONS DESPITE LACKING FUNDS TO REPLENISH ITS OWN STOCKPILES
Refugee services director Walter Anastazievsky isn’t holding his breath for more funding from Congress. "It's anyone's guess what's going to happen in Washington," Anastazievsky said. (Mills Hayes)
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday. He promoted former President Trump’s plan for a loan to Ukraine, rather than aid, to continue supporting the country in the war with Russia.
"I think Ukraine needs assistance in any form that it can get. Ideally, it would be a continuation of the kind of assistance that the U.S. and other countries have been providing," Anastazievsky said. "I don't know that Ukraine is in a position to reject aid regardless of how it's structured."
Back in Ukraine, Dr. Gradinar is opening another Protez Foundation clinic in Kyiv. The demand for high-quality, free prosthetics is high.
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As a Ukrainian American, Gradinar says he understands the need for taxpayers to know how their money is being spent in Ukraine. But he says Russia’s desire to take over the world is "scary for the 21st century." He says Ukrainians want to be free of corruption and have a democracy like the U.S.
"Tell me who's going to be elected in United States as the next president? We don't know," Gradinar said. "Tell me who's going to be elected in Russia president election. Everybody knows."
Mills Hayes joined Fox News in 2022 as a multimedia reporter in Minneapolis.
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