Viktoria Nikitchuk’s voice trembled with fear when I spoke with her four days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the winter of 2022.
She huddled with her two daughters in a hotel basement in Kyiv as Russian troops encircled the city and blasts of shelling drew closer. Food and water were running low.
On Saturday, the 44-year-old divorced mother of two teenagers spoke from Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod with optimism, a bright timbre shining through her conversation.
“I am very happy that we are all together. We overcame many obstacles. We are lucky we made it here,” Nikitchuk said. Her experience in the hotel industry helped her land a job as assistant director of housekeeping at Chatham Bars Inn, a luxury beachfront resort.
“My goal all along was to keep my family safe and together,” she said. Nikitchuk chose to settle last August on Cape Cod because her oldest daughter, Maria, 19, had visited her father, Nikitchuk’s ex-husband, on the Cape, and she loved the locale.
“We made a good transition. I’d call this a big success,” Nikitchuk said, especially for her 13-year-old daughter, Eugenia, who enjoys her classes in sixth grade at a local public school.
Her daughter is beginning to make friends after coming home in tears following the first day of school. She felt self-conscious because her English was poor and was sad that nobody talked to her.
Over the past months, her daughter’s initial unhappiness turned a corner.
“She is excited to go to school now. Her English is getting better every day,” her mother said. “They make learning fun for the kids.”
I have followed the journey of Nikitchuk and her daughters since the Russian invasion Feb. 24, 2022. They are among 8.2 million refugees from Ukraine who fled the war and registered across Europe. Another 6 million people…
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