Russia's aggression in opposition to Ukraine is especially alarming for folks in america who've buddies or household within the nation. One in all them is Anya Hapotchenko, an change scholar whose mother and father reside in japanese Ukraine, not removed from the border with Russia.
The 19-year-old school freshman, who's learning in Dallas, stated she has been in contact along with her mother and father each day and is making an attempt to not panic. In order quickly as she heard Russian President Vladimir Putin announce what he referred to as a "navy operation" in Ukraine, she referred to as her mother and father to warn them.
"It was 5 a.m. within the morning, Moscow time and Ukrainian time as properly," she instructed CBS Information nationwide correspondent Jericka Duncan.
"So mainly, I woke them up with a telephone name … and I instructed them that, 'Effectively, you recognize what's occurring as a result of I noticed this info,' they usually had been like, 'Effectively, we do not know. We had been simply sleeping,'" she stated.
Hapotchenko stated her mother and father' house is roughly 60 miles from the Russian border, within the metropolis of Starobilsk. They instructed her they'd not heard any gunfire but and had been planning to depart Thursday, she stated.
"My mother and father are making some progress in really packing stuff and issues to depart my hometown fairly quickly," Hapotchenko stated.
The official web site of Ukraine's parliament had been taken down, she stated, in all probability so "folks will not obtain any updates or another info."
Hapotchenko stated dwelling with Russia's risk has been part of day by day life, however that is the primary time her mother and father have ever determined to depart.
Her brother, niece and boyfriend are additionally in Ukraine. All had been searching for security on Thursday, she stated.