JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — They hadn't seen each other in 20 years, but when the war forced Vitalii Lycenko and his family out of their home in Ukraine, his childhood friend opened his family's doors in Jacksonville.
Vitalii Lycenko, his wife Tatiana, their 10-month-old son, their seven-year-old daughter and Tatiana's sister arrived in Jacksonville last week. Vitalii said they intended to stay in their home in Kyiv, but after the first two weeks of the war, they decided they needed to leave.
"There were bombs going off," their daughter, Yeva Lycenko, said. "The siren wouldn't turn off."
She recalled the three days she spent running in and out of a bomb shelter in her home, memories she's trying to forget.
"I was praying and hoping that God would save us and that everything would be ok," Yeva said. “I heard a rocket fly and the windows started to shake and the house started to shake and I got really scared and I ran in the corner and put a blanket over myself because I thought the window was going to explode and glass would be on me, so I was trying to protect myself and I was praying really hard for God to protect us," she said.
“We never planned to leave," Vitalii said. "We had a life. We never ever thought we would leave our homes, our built lives in Ukraine, but we are so thankful that we are here because of people," he said.
"The children are the reason we are here. We want to give them a future and we don’t know what would’ve happened to us if we stayed," he said.
Vitalii was working in Poland when the war started. Tatiana took the children and went to her mother's home in the West, where it was safer. After two weeks of the war, they decided it wasn't safe to stay anymore.
"The war started to escalate even more where the houses were starting to, where if you’re not even getting bombed, your house was shaking. The sirens did not turn off. There’s no peaceful sleep or a moment to yourself, because it’s a war zone. It’s a very scary war zone," Vitalii said.
Tatiana and her sister packed up what they could and made their way to Vitalii in Poland. They stayed in Poland at a refugee shelter while they looked for a place to stay permanently. Due to the number of refugees fleeing to Poland, however, Vitalii said there wasn't anything available.
That's when he reached out to Ruslan Bondarenko, who he went to Sunday school with as a child in Ukraine.
“My husband just said, 'there’s a family, and they want to come,' and I said, 'ok' and he said, 'they have kids,'" Tanya Bondarenko, Ruslan's wife, said. "That hit home for me because I do have two small children and then when my husband told me it’s a 10-month-old, that hit home even more because I was like, I can’t imagine being at the border snowed in trying to find clear skies for my kids."
They set up a GoFundMe for the Lycenkos to raise money for a car. They're also trying to help them find a place of their own. They're here right now on humanitarian visas that will last one year. They said after one year, they'll evaluate things and possibly renew the visas.
For now, Vitalii has a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“God is alive, and he will deal with you and as President Zelensky said, you cannot hide from God, and he will deal with you," Vitalii said.
The Lycenkos also extended a profound amount of gratitude to everyone who has helped them along their journey.
Bondarenko translated for First Coast News.