Ukrainians’ emotions run strong in central Indiana: ‘I feel helpless’

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Emotions are running strong for Ukrainians across central Indiana. Some of them have family members in Ukraine that are in desperate situations.

Alex Morozov lives in Carmel, but he has family in Ukraine.

“I had a sleepless night, talking with our teams and it was my father… it was my brother,” Morozov said.

Morozov owns a software solutions company in Carmel and has more than 100 employees working for him in Ukraine, most of them in the western part of the country. He says it’s heartbreaking to watch the country suffer.

“When you see those Russian missiles hitting Kyiv and you know that so many innocent [are] people there, it’s tough,” Morozov said.

Svitlana Ramer moved to the United States about 13 years ago from Ukraine, but her mother and 90-year-old grandmother still live there. Ramer says her mother called her at around midnight from Kyiv to let her know what was going on.

“She actually called me a couple of times around midnight and I was asleep, but then I called her back around 6 a.m. and I wasn’t able to get hold of her for a little while. I was really worried, but I finally got through and she said that they were OK, but they woke up around 5 a.m. to explosion sounds,” Ramer said.

Ramer says it’s tough to be so far away from her family.

“I feel helpless that now that the airspace has been closed, and the actual military operation has begun, there’s not even a way, really, to get her on a plane and get her out of there,” Ramer said.

Morozov says he’s hopeful that the sanctions against Russia will help Ukraine rise and that he’s grateful to the United States.

“If America will help step up strong and provide those really hard, heavy sanctions on Russia’s economy, it definitely will help in the long run,” Morozov said.