Butler County’s Lyudmyla Martin remembers the photo she received from her ex-daughter-in-law at 4 a.m. Feb. 24, 2022, after a building outside her apartment window was abruptly bombed by Russia.

Living in Kharkov (Kharkiv), an eastern Ukrainian city about 31 miles from the Russian border, she called Martin when she saw a neighboring two-story building now reduced to rubble and told Martin “we have a war.”

Monday marked three years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Martin said in a recent call, her brother in Kharkov had to quickly hang up the phone to take shelter before bombs fell, shutting off his apartment’s electricity and heat. Her brother, 77, and his wife, 75, live on the 12th floor of their apartment building. Their age does not allow them to rush downstairs to escape the daily bombings, so the family hides in the hallway near the elevator.

Martin talks every day to her brother, sister and niece still living in Ukraine. She immigrated to the U.S. when she married her husband in 2002 and visited her home country at least every year before the war.

Martin said as an older couple away from the ground floor, her brother knows every day could be the day a bomb hits their building. Their conversations over text are lighthearted and lack any details about the war to keep spirits high. Sending pictures is also outlawed for fear the Russian military can track the location an image was taken using its background.

When cities were bombed, Martin said Ukrainians worked to rebuild immediately, sometimes boarding walls and windows with cardboard — if it’s all that is available.

“Ukrainian people feel disappointment and very scared because they don’t know what’s next,” Martin said. “The United States (does) not support anymore.”

The U.S. and Ukraine

Martin said President Donald Trump’s comments last week toward Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disappointed Ukraine citizens who thought the U.S. supported them.

“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well,” Trump said during peace talks in Saudi Arabia with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Today, I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years ago — you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

Zelenskyy retorted Wednesday saying Trump has been operating in a Russian “disinformation space.”

“When this was started, the American people and American government opened (their) heart and opened (the) door and opened everything that’s possible to help the Ukrainian people,” Martin said holding back tears.

Martin said Zelenskyy may have been under pressure, but he has led his country through three years of war with a nation five times Ukraine’s size, and the country remains independent despite losing territory.

“We were in shock how fast Trump flipped his mind and opinion about Ukraine,” Martin said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Ukrainians did not foresee the U.S. meeting with and supporting Russia over Ukraine and Zelenskyy being called a dictator because elections have not been held since before the war, Martin said. She used China and Taiwan as an example, explaining the U.S. would be more heavily involved if China invaded the island compared to its involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Everything Trump says is everything we heard from (the) Russian president, Russian TV and Russian news, everything,” Martin said.

Zelenskyy’s approval

Zelenskyy entered office with an 80% approval rating, which rose to 90% three months into the invasion, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. His most recent polling shows a 57% approval rating.

Martin praised Zelenskyy for refusing to flee his country and said the Ukrainian people do not blame him for war. She said he’s not perfect, and his approval rating dipped to 52% in December but has steadily risen since Trump’s comments.

“Trump says he only has 4%,” Martin said. “He never had 4%.”

Martin also said Ukraine’s constitution allows elections after fighting has stopped for six months, which could give the estimated 10 million people who have left the country time to return. She said Ukraine has free and fair elections, so Zelenskyy’s 57% approval rating is more believable than Putin’s 90% approval rating.

“Russia wants to destroy everything,” Martin said.

Shifting opinions

No government thought Ukraine was in the wrong when they were invaded three years ago, but the Trump administration and news “looks like its turning upside down,” Martin said.

Zelenskyy rejected a deal with the United States on Wednesday for a share of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals including lithium, titanium, coal, gas, oil and uranium, according to BBC. White House national security adviser Mike Waltz suggested on Thursday the deal could be exchanged for increased aid or compensation. Trump wants $500 billion in rare earth minerals as part of the deal.

Martin said Russia would have destroyed Ukraine in five to six months without foreign aid. She trusts her country to make a fair and affordable deal, and if one can’t be reached, to soldier on by themselves. If a deal is reached, Ukrainian citizens want to feel secure that Russia won’t be knocking on their door in another year or two, she said.

She said if Ukraine knew it would be asked to pay back former President Joe Biden’s aid, it would not have accepted it.

“Ukrainian people are not scared, but they’re stubborn,” Martin said.

Family matters

After Biden signed legislation to welcome Ukrainian refugees, Martin brought six families close to her to Butler County. She said when the war started, they would stay in basements for months and make food in a small fireplace.

“Some people helped with clothes, some people helped with money,” Martin said. “People helped them get a stable, stronger life.”

Meanwhile, Butler County showed up elsewhere for Ukraine. Food sales, flea markets and fundraisers of all kinds held at places like the Lyndora Hotel and Sts. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church gathered financial support for the smaller country to fight Russia.

Related Article: Ukrainians who fled homeland face 1st anniversary of invasion

The families flew over around three years ago before Ukraine banned men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country in case they’re needed for the draft. Nobody can leave the country now regardless of age, Martin said.

The families live in Cranberry Township and have jobs or are retired, have kids who attend Cranberry schools, have their own apartments and pay local taxes. None receive government assistance of any kind.

Martin is worried, however, if relations between the U.S. and Ukraine continue to deteriorate, Trump could cancel the families’ refugee status.