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Ukraine update: Doing their best to survive

Vlada Hrabenko, a resident of Kyiv, Ukraine, who was interviewed by the Gazette-Journal last month about the ongoing war with Russia, recently gave an update on her situation.

Vlada is a close friend of Irina Senyk, whose cousins, Billy and Mike Senyk, are Mathews County residents. Vlada and her mother chose to remain in their high-rise apartment in the center of Kyiv near the government quarter when Irina and many others evacuated the capital after the start of the war. She said they stayed both to help their elderly neighbors and as “a back for our armed forces.”

In a Facebook Messenger exchange last week, Vlada said that she and her mom are still helping their elderly neighbors, and that they now have a new family member—a puppy named Hailey. She said the pup is stressed out after having been in a Borodyanka shelter where many of the dogs had died because there was no food for them to eat.

“She is very thin, but we are becoming real friends,” said Vlada. “She is so lovely....

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