DeGette Meets with Ukrainian Refugees in Denver

Statement

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) met today with three Ukrainian women who recently arrived in Denver after they were forced to flee the violence in Ukraine.

"In the beginning, we were in total denial," said Iryna Rothko, a 36-year-old mother of two who arrived in Denver days ago with her two small children after they were forced to flee their home in Ukraine, "nobody believed the war was coming."

Rothko is one of more than three million Ukrainians who have left the country since war broke out. During the meeting, she showed DeGette a video clip that was captured on a home security camera that had been installed at their home outside Kyiv showing the moment it was bombed by Russian forces and reduced to rubble.

"This is what Russia is doing," DeGette said, "this is not a military target. They are targeting suburban houses."

DeGette said the U.S. and its allies are working closely together to provide additional support to the people of Ukraine and deter Russsia's continued aggression.

In addition to Rothko, DeGette also met with 73-year-old Katerina Khmil and her daughter, Tetiana, whose five-day journey out of the war-torn country in search of safety here in the U.S. culminated last week with their arrival in Denver.

"We left everything behind in search of safety," the elder Khmil told DeGette through an interpreter.

Khmil told the congresswoman that her home in Poltava, Ukraine, was located in close proximity to a Ukrainian military base that was one of the first targets bombed by Russian forces when the invasion began the morning of Feb. 24.

Despite the bombings that occurred every night around their home since the war began, Khmil and her daughter said they waited two weeks before eventually making the decision to leave for the U.S. -- knowing it meant leaving their home and everything they had behind.

Khmil and her daughter said they have remained in near-daily contact with Khmil's husband and her two adult sons who stayed behind in Ukraine and are now helping to defend their homeland.

Khmil's daughter told DeGette that while they are now safe here in the U.S., they don't feel safe because their country is still at war.

All three women DeGette met with Tuesday had family ties to the Denver area, which made it easier for them to travel to the U.S. after the war began.

DeGette told the attendees of today's meeting that she expects even more refugees to begin arriving in the Denver area in the weeks ahead. She said, in order to help those who have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine, Congress and the Biden administration are working to expedite the process for those seeking to come to the U.S. under the Refugee Resettlement Program.

"People whose houses are being bombed every day can't wait for two years to be able to come here," DeGette said. "Congress and the White House are working very hard, in a bipartisan way, to [expedite the process]."

DeGette was among a group of lawmakers that recently called on the Biden administration to provide Ukrainians already in the U.S. with Temporary Protected Status so they wouldn't be forced to return home amid a war when their visas expired, a step the Biden administration announced it was taking shortly after the letter was sent.

Following is a list of the individuals DeGette met with today:

Iryna Rothko, 36, fled with her two small children from their home in Kyiv, leaving her husband behind.
Katerina Khmil, 73, and her daughter, Tetiana Khmil, 53, fled their home in Poltava, Ukraine, leaving Katerina's husband and two adult sons behind.
Jennifer Wilson, with the International Rescue Committee in Denver, whose group is helping support Ukrainian refugees as they arrive in the Denver area.
Marina Dubrova, with Ukrainians of Colorado, whose group is helping to provide aid to Ukrainian refugees.
Video of today's meeting is available here.

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