One couple's journey from Ukraine to St. Charles, Missouri: 'The people here are very kind'

Viktor and Svetlana Zribnyak had lived in Kharkiv, Ukraine, since 1983, but Russia’s invasion forced them to flee to their son’s home in St. Charles, Missouri.
About a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Viktor and Svitlana Zribnyak got a phone call from their son in St. Charles that would change their lives.

Volodymyr Zribnyak told his parents they had an hour to pack what they could and leave their home of 40 years.

“We realized there was an opportunity to avoid death,” Viktor said. “I had to act immediately. We collected all of the necessary documents that had been selected in advance, medicine, and left literally within an hour.”

It’s a decision neither expected they would ever need to make.

“It was very difficult for us to decide to escape from here,” Svitlana said. “Everything is there, our life we lived. Everything there we left as it is.”