Note: The interviews for this article were conducted in Russian. The responses have been translated into English and lightly edited for clarity.
LYNN — The frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine War might be thousands of miles away, but for Ukrainians living in the United States, those battles are personal and ever-present.
Feb. 24, 2024 marks the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, more than a quarter of a million Ukrainians have moved to the United States – some finding refuge on the North Shore.
Three of them — Maryna Zhukova, her son Hlib Zhukov, and Ludmila Chernyshova — work at Gastronome, an Eastern European deli and grocery store on Broad Street.
“It’s familiar (working here), because here there are people who are also from (the former Soviet Union), that is, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and so on,” Zhukov said. “It is really nice, because everyone here understands you, and there are also Americans who come to shop here, and you can practice speaking (English) with them.”
Zhukova and Zhukov are originally from Kryvyi Rih, a city in the center of the country and the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After the war began, their city came under fire from Russian forces. They came to the U.S. in August 2022 after Zhukova’s daughter found sponsors for them, and they now live in Swampscott.
Chernyshova stayed in Ukraine longer. She lived in Zaporizhzhia, a now-frontline city east of Kryvyi Rih. She left through Uniting for Ukraine, a streamlined program that allows displaced Ukrainians to come to the U.S. and stay for up to two years, in May 2023.
She now lives in Lynn with her daughter and helps take care of her grandson. In her free time, she works at Gastronome.
Leaving was not an easy decision for Chernyshova, as she had to leave everything she had back in Zaporizhzhia.
“We have two cars sitting in the garage. I have a dacha (a modest summer home) in a village, and there is a garden there with vegetables and fruits — my own raspberries, my own strawberries, everything my own,” Chernyshova said.
Chernyshova also left her family. She said that her husband is buried in Ukraine. Her son, a police officer, stayed behind to help those who did not leave. She calls and texts him when she can, despite the seven-hour time difference.
Zhukova left her mother when she fled the country.
“I had a young mother, but her heart could not hold on. It stopped. She died,” she said. “This happens a lot with mothers’ hearts. I have a friend, and another friend, whose moms died.”
Moving to the United States has presented challenges for Chernyshova and Zhukova, who have had trouble learning English. For Zhukov, a senior at Swampscott High School, being younger and attending school has made learning the language easier.
“In general, it is not a big deal, especially when you live… in a country where people speak this language, speak in English,” Zhukov said. “So, it is difficult in the beginning, but you get used to it because everything you hear around you every day is English. The main thing is patience and that’s all.”
There are also the unexpected cultural differences between Ukraine and the United States.
One of the differences Zhukov noticed was in the school system.
“For example, here you can choose which subjects (to study) for yourself, whichever interests you. We do not have that (in Ukraine),” he said.
But the main difference, Zhukov said, is that “people are nicer” in the United States, which his mother and Chernyshova agreed with.
“We are absolutely different. The mentality is absolutely different,” Zhukova said. “Americans, being as nice as they are, always hug each other, are always giving a bunch of compliments.”
Despite the many differences, Zhukov said Americans and Ukrainians share some of the same values.
“I think that you all understand where there is justice and where there is injustice, and who attacked whom. I think that here, (Americans) understand fully,” Zhukov said.
More than anything else, all three want an end to the war. Zhukova and Chernyshova talked about knowing many people who have died or whose relatives have died because of the war. Chernyshova said her Facebook feed is full of posts memorializing those killed in the war.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I believe in Ukraine, I believe,” Chernyshova said. “I think that victory will be ours nonetheless.”
“I want for this all to end. I wish it never started at all,” Zhukova said.
Despite the friendliness and support here in America, Chernyshova expressed her desire to return to a peaceful Ukraine.
“I hope that I will go home. I really want to go home,” she said. “Here is good, but home is better.”
