Community members mourns crisis in Ukraine

Community members are reeling from the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Wantagh resident Oleh Balaban, 31, said he has been in a state of worry and frustration as Russian forces invade Ukraine – his home country.

Last Tuesday morning, Ukraine-born Oleh Balaban first heard news of Russia’s possible invasion on Ukraine’s major cities. Balaban had stayed overnight at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip – he was welcoming his newborn daughter Myla Marie Balaban to the world when he first heard the news of Russian forces invading Ukraine.

Balaban was born in Ukraine but moved to the United States at age 11. He started a family and recently opened Ole Fajitas in Wantagh.

“How this can happen in a modern world, in a modern country, is beyond me,” Balaban said. “I’m watching the news everyday hoping that maybe something turns positive, that maybe Russia decides to call back and say: ‘Retreat, we don’t want to do this anymore,’ but that is never coming.”

On Feb. 24, Russian forces launched their first attack on Ukraine. It was the largest military assault of one European state on another since World War II, according to multiple media outlets, including AP and Reuters. In a televised address, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called it a “special operation” after months of denying Russia’s plans for invasion.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Thursday declared martial law across the country which forbade male Ukrainians between the ages of 18-60 from fleeing the country. More than 150,000 refugees – predominantly women, children and the elderly – have fled Ukraine in the past week, according to the United Nations.

An able-bodied man of 36 years, Balaban’s cousin, Roman, was drafted for the frontlines last Thursday from his home in Lviv, Ukraine. He left behind his wife and five-year-old son. Balaban said he has not heard from his cousin since he was drafted and hopes for his cousin’s safe return to his family, who has sought refuge in the western region of Ukraine.

Balaban also had friends in Kyiv who stayed in subways to protect themselves from ongoings above ground. “I hope this comes to an end so I can stop worrying what I’ll wake up to see on the news,” said Balaban. “It’s tough to watch, but I remain hopeful and optimistic that Ukraine will keep defending their freedom, their democracy and their homeland.”

Nassau County residents are gathering to console one another amid the attacks. Community members and elected officials gathered outside the Killenworth mansion in Glen Cove last Saturday, demanding that President Joe Biden expel Russian diplomats from the compound that is used as a holiday retreat.

Diana Shykula, a 16-year-old from Levittown, said she has family in Ukraine and is worried about their safety. “Our families are put in danger,” Shykula said.

After hearing about the Russian bombings last Thursday evening, Shykula immediately tried to contact her friends in Ukraine. She was the first person to break the news to her friends about the attack in the country’s capital, Kyiv. “When I first found out, I was in pure shock,” Shykula said. “I was texting all of my friends in Ukraine, and it took them a while to get back to me, and I was really scared.”

“It is time for you to raise your voice as well and fight back together with us,” Volodymyr Tsyalkovsky, a Ukrainian American from Great Neck, told the crowd at the event. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) also called on residents to boycott all Russian products.

“If we do not stop the Russian aggression now, [it] will flow into [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] countries which we have a treaty obligation to fight,” Blakeman said. “If we do so, then American blood will be shed, so we have to stand firm and resolute.”

For the first time, NATO has initiated a NATO Response Force, an effort of Special Operations Forces that can be deployed, according to its website.

“We want the people of Ukraine to know, that here in Nassau County, we are behind you,” Blakeman said at the press conference. “And it is also a message to our president that weakness invites danger and now is the time for America to be strong and to enact further sanctions.”

Letisha Dass contributed reporting.