Finding home in California after fleeing war in Ukraine

Over the past year of war in Ukraine, some 8 million people have been internally displaced. Another 8 million left the country and settled in European countries.

Close to 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to the United States as refugees, many of them through the Uniting for Ukraine visa program that offers a two-year residency window.

Vira Ustyanska, 34, is a recipient of one of these visas. She now lives in San Diego, California, nearly 7,000 miles from her hometown of Zaporizhzhia.

Ustayanksa is an artist whose paintings have appeared in museums and private collections around the world. For the past 10 years, she said, she did not follow the news. She just wanted to make art. And she did not believe that war in Ukraine could become reality.

On Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ustyanska, her daughter Vasy, and her husband Sergei, went down into a bomb shelter they had hurriedly built with neighbors.

Five days later, she noticed that people began to leave the shelter and the city. Ustyanska made the hard decision that she and 8-year-old Vasy needed to leave Ukraine.  

“There was no discussion. My husband had to stay and fight,” she said.

Ustyanska said she took all the belongings needed for the journey and packed them in a small suitcase. It took about 30 minutes to get ready and then — she and her daughter left. 

After staying in several shelters, living with friends and navigating a complicated visa process, they are now living in a Spanish colonial home in San Diego, with host Connie Terwilliger.

Right after the war started, Terwilliger received an email from AirBnb, an app with which she rents out her property.

The email asked whether she would like to donate a room to a Ukrainian refugee.

“I thought, well sure, I’ve a nice big house and a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms that weren’t being used, so I said ‘yes,'” Terwilliger said.

Terwilliger is hosting them rent-free for as long as they need.

“They’re my new family, actually. I never had any kids and now I have a granddaughter. It’s wonderful. I’m absolutely enjoying the experience,” she said.

Every day, Ustyanska speaks with her husband, who is repairing airplanes in Zaporizhzhia, while she waits in San Diego for the war to end.

Vasy is learning English quickly and has made friends in school.

In the garage-turned-art studio at Terwilliger’s house, Ustyanska paints large canvases of sunflowers — her favorite subject.

The last six months before the war started, she painted very dark, depressive paintings with sunflowers. In San Diego, they are bright yellow against blue skies to keep out the darkness, she said.