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Ukrainian Refugees Meet With Blumenthal at Luncheon in New Haven

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This weekend, we got the chance to catch up with some Ukrainian refugees that arrived here at Bradley Airport two weeks ago.

They were one of four refugee families who met with Sen. Richard Blumenthal Sunday afternoon in New Haven.

Simon Bobrovskii and his wife left their home, as it was their only option after missiles began landing near their home. Bobrovskii is Russian and his wife is Ukrainian and they made a life in her home country. But once the Russian invasion started, they knew the time had come to leave.

The couple fled from Kyiv on March 26 and during the last few weeks, they've had several stops along the way. We're talking Tijuana, Minnesota, and ultimately Connecticut.

The luncheon at Saint Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church was a chance for the family to talk about how they've been adjusting to life in the U.S. and what can improve to help other refugees coming here now.

"We cannot work. So being in our early 30s, it's very hard for us to receive donations from people. Because now in those events, when there is a war in Ukraine, there are those people that need those donations and things, we feel very bad taking it because look, we have two arms, we have two legs who have a hat on our shoulder, and we can actually work. We want to be helpful here, to be helpful to the Ukrainian people," said Simon Bobrovskii.

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"What he's referring to is the fact that the United States takes between three to six months to issue a work permit to people who entered legally with humanitarian parole, which is too much time for someone to not have a job," said attorney Dana Buchin.

The refugees also say being unable to drive here in the U.S. has made it even more challenging to be self sufficient.

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