When deciding to flee Ukraine means leaving a family member behind

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/ [login to see] /when-deciding-to-flee-ukraine-means-leaving-a-family-member-behind
33 year old Sofia Bretl has lived in New York City for the last decade, but she was born and raised in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv about 25 miles from the Russian border. The city has been one of the hardest hit by Russian forces. Over the last month, Sofia's been in constant communication with her family back home. Sofia sat down for a series of interviews with Radio Diaries, documenting the difficult choices they've had to make as the violence escalates.

Sofia's mother, Vita Linnik, is 55. Before the Russians invaded in February, Sofia says her mother cared for her 92-year-old great aunt, Vanya Guseba. Vanya lives on the other side of the city in the Saltivka neighborhood of Kharkiv. Vanya has had a mental disability most of her life and over the last year, she's grown physically weaker, now unable to walk on her own. Vita cared for her with help from one of her aunt's neighbors, a retired home health aide. "She's helpless," Sofia says of her great-aunt, "she doesn't even understand there's a war going on."