Ukrainian Evacuee Thriving in Connecticut

Next week marks nine months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and according to the United States government, as many as 150,000 Ukrainians have come to the U.S. this year to escape the violence.

Several studies show that being displaced by war comes with a host of stressors, and for many, it can be traumatic.

But there is an inspiring story in Connecticut, where a young woman is making the most of her new surroundings, determined to keep moving forward.

We talked to Zhenya Sheremet at Tunxis Community College in Farmington.

The quiet calm on campus is a sharp contrast to what she left behind near Odesa, Ukraine.

“You never know when the sirens will come,” the 20-year-old said, describing the sudden turn of events when Russia invaded in February of this year.

NBC Connecticut first talked to Zhenya in March, in a virtual interview when the university student and teacher’s assistant decided to stay in Ukraine and help defend her homeland.

"My family is my country," Sheremet told NBC Connecticut's Heidi Voight.

It was an act of defiance and bravery that even surprised Zhenya herself.

“I don’t know. Something inside me just pushed me to do those things. I never thought I could do the things I do then,” she said.

The things she did included helping supply Ukrainian troops with food, ammunition and other essentials. Her big sister, Alexandra Gizhitsa-Anderson, who has lived in Southington for seven years, feared for Zhenya's safety.

“So sirens were going on my phone, and first of all, it’s the scariest thing, and secondly, the only thing I can think about is Zhenya is running somewhere downstairs, or she’s on the street, or maybe she’s by a military base and she’s running as fast as she can,” the mother of two said. She went on to describe some emotionally difficult times.

“I had all these memories of me holding her as a kid, and now there’s rockets flying, drones, there’s ships that are aiming, and to me, it’s like they’re all aiming at my sister,” she said.

Now they are both grateful to be safe in Southington, where Zhenya lives with Alex, her husband and two children. 

But resettling in the midst of war can bring a long list of challenges.

For Zhenya, one of them was leaving everything behind.

"Like, why is this whole thing happening to me? Happening with my family, my country, my friends?" she asked.

In March Alex, traveled from Connecticut to Poland, and ultimately to Slovakia to help get her mother, sister, and her stepbrother out of Ukraine.

“The bombs was going out of the second village where we live. We live one village near Odesa. The bomb was near our house, about 20 minutes. Then I said, ‘that’s it.’ ‘I can’t. It’s very dangerous to be there,’” Zhenya said.

She also said her 11-year-old brother was unable to sleep as the front line of the war drew closer.

Alex said the process for getting her family out of Ukraine and into the United States was time-consuming, expensive, and sad, although she said the two sisters make a point to help one another stay positive.

“It is hard to stop feeling the way that we feel because the invasion is just so brutal for such a huge amount of people. He, the president of Russia, broke our lives. Not just Zhenya’s life, but my life and my husband’s life here,” Gizhitsa-Anderson said.

Despite the difficulties of that broken life, like being separated from her friends, her father, and attending school in a foreign country in her third language, Alex said her little sister has adopted an impressive attitude.

Zhenya said it is a choice.

“This is my life. I am the owner of my life, and if I just sit, there will be nothing,” she said.

She is not just sitting. Zhenya is working on general credits at Tunxis Community College, with plans to get a math degree at a four-year school and a dream to one day return to Ukraine and open a business.

Gizhitsa-Anderson partners with Liberty Ukraine Foundation, a nonprofit that assists the victims of the war in Ukraine.

She said you can contact her directly if you'd like to learn more at alexandragizhitsaanderson@gmail.com.