Ukrainian refugees find comfort on Long Island on anniversary of Russian invasion 

Vasylyna Ketsman came to Long Island three weeks ago as a Ukrainian war refugee from her city of Kalush in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.

In her daily life, the perpetual fear loomed that rockets would hit and kill civilians.

“All the time, there is alarms, because the planes and the rockets is flying, so every time we have to hide, go to the underground to hide,” said Ketsman, 35, through her uncle, translating in a phone interview from the rectory of St. Vladimir’s Catholic Church in Hempstead.

Friday marks one year since Russian troops launched an anticipated attack of Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin ignoring sanctions and international condemnation. According to the United Nations human rights office, at least 8,000 noncombatants have been confirmed killed. That doesn’t include tens of thousands of military deaths.

Of the millions of Ukrainian refugees, over 100 are now on Long Island and still coming, primarily staying in host families’ houses — in Uniondale, East Meadow, Bethpage, Hempstead, Floral Park, Massapequa, Babylon, Copiague, Lindenhurst, West Islip and beyond — according to priests who are helping spearhead the refugee effort.

“There is no light, there is no hot water also either, so, not comfortable life, not like here,” said Ketsman. She added: “There is light here. There is peace here. There is warm water here for taking shower.”

Ketsman, who worked as a hardware store manager in Ukraine, is now staying in the rectory with her uncle, the Rev. Wasyl Hrynkiw, and his wife, Olga. (Ukrainian Catholic priests can marry.)

Oleh N. Dekajlo, past president of Long Island’s chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said that war refugees who come to Long Island “all generally flock through the different parishes,” and from there, are placed with local families.

The refugees need money, supplies, clothes, jobs “where able,” education, and transportation.

“Everybody’s been chipping in both with labor, with support, and, I guess even most importantly, with the emotional involvement, getting these people assimilated, so that they know that they’re welcome here, and that, you know, that we’re all from the same cloth,” he said.

Long Island is home to what the U.S. Census Bureau estimated before the war was 12,978 people with Ukrainian ancestry: 7,775 in Suffolk and 5,203 in Nassau. There are 64,385 in New York City, and 1,009,874 across the United States.

Seeing Ukrainian flags on the Island has made the refugees feel supported, Dekajlo said.

“There is a tremendous amount of feeling of acceptance when they drive down the streets or they go to these marinas or they go into businesses and they see so many businesses on Long Island carrying the Ukrainian flag in front proudly, or Ukrainian stickers, and these are businesses that have no connection to Ukraine. So for them they’re understanding they’re not in a hostile territory.”

Refugees who have been given papers allowing them to work legally in the United States are in a range of professions largely dependent on fluency in English, unless they can find work at a job where Ukrainian is spoken, he said.

“Those that speak English — or have some command of the English language — for them there’s less of a limitation. But as with other immigrant groups, the language poses obstacles,” he said.

In such cases, work has been in housekeeping, construction and other labor. Some have gotten legal permission to work; others are still waiting.

In many cases, just women and children have been allowed to leave Ukraine; the men must stay and fight the war. 

“A lot of them do want to go back, especially if they’ve got homes there, if they’ve got businesses or they’ve got an education there, that they’d have to start from scratch here,” he said, referring to the refugees.

But about half would want to stay in the United States, he estimated.

“Those that were less prosperous. Those that were less educated,” he said, “they may use that opportunity and then try to sponsor their spouses that are there to come here.” 

To commemorate the invasion’s anniversary, the Holy Family Ukrainian Catholic Church is holding a 24-hour prayer vigil beginning Thursday at midnight, said the Rev. Olvian Nicolae Popovici.

“Rosaries, devotions, Mass, quoting, reading of the Bibles, for the people in Ukraine, supporting, praying for those who suffer in Ukraine,” he said.

He added: “What you can do? Only prayer. Prayer means much more than anything.” 

Late into Wednesday night, he said, the church was holding a fundraiser for Ukraine. 

Fundraising on the Island for Ukraine has been going on since last year.

Starting days after Russia invaded the nation where they were born, a group of eight to 10 women on Long Island began baking, from scratch — perogies, holubtsi (stuffed cabbage), cheese blintzes, rolls, cakes, cookies and other ethnic delicacies — to raise money for the Ukrainian army, said 67-year-old Luyba Nosalyk of Holbrook.

“War started, was February 24; we start making February 26. War started on Thursday; we start make it on Saturday,” said Nosalyk, who is originally from the Ukrainian city of Lviv, about 45 miles from the Polish border.

So far, the effort has raised about $60,000, she said. (A dozen pierogies go for $10.)

Nosalyk, a house cleaner, said she regularly hits up her clients to ask whether they want to buy — potato with cheese pierogies? sauerkraut with potato? something else? — or perhaps their friends might be interested, to help her homeland’s war effort.

“We want to help Ukrainian army, OK?” she explained. “They need it a lot."

Affixed to each package is a heart-shaped, two-colored sticker thanking the buyer for supporting the cause. “Yellow and blue,” she said, “like Ukraine flag.”

The women plan to keep up the fundraising as long as the war goes on, she said. On Saturday, they’ll gather at one of the women’s kitchens, in Bellmore, to keep baking.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.