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Today's Interview: Checking in on Ukrainians in central Kentucky nearly a year after the Russian invasion

Ukrainian Pentecostal Church in Lexington, KY
Stu Johnson
/
WEKU
Ukrainian Pentecostal Church in Lexington, KY

11 months ago Tuesday, Russia launched an unprovoked attack on neighboring Ukraine. The war has hit central Kentucky’s sizable population of Ukrainian immigrants hard. Many attend the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church in Lexington – and nearly all of them have friends and family members back home. Victor Selepina came to America when he was 9 years old.

“Lots of volunteers we know have already lost their lives just by trying to help those people. So that’s the main prayer, and our desires for this to end – this madness to end.”

Selepina and many members of his congregation are sponsoring Ukrainian families to come to America as part of a temporary refugee program. Meantime, they hope, and they pray.

“The morale is as usual – we pray in the hope that this ends, the sooner the better. Lots of innocent people losing their lives, if not their own, their close family members.”

Selepina said his congregation is very appreciative of the support central Kentucky has given them. Multiple relief drives have helped those left behind in Ukraine – and the spirits of those here who love them.

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John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.
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