Ukrainian Refugees

The Naichuk family was forced to flee after Russia attacked their hometown. Now, Olha and Mikhailo juggle multiple jobs in the St. Louis region while raising their three kids and dreaming of their native Ukraine.

When Suzanne Galvin and her husband, John, aren’t working at Thompson Coburn, they help refugees process their trauma after crises.

The Biden administration’s Uniting for Ukraine program allows people from the war-torn country to temporarily stay in the U.S., and hundreds are coming to St. Louis. But Ukrainians don’t qualify for the benefits that other refugees receive, leaving local agencies and American sponsors scrambling to help them.

"The Memory Keeper of Kyiv" is set in both modern-day Illinois and 1930s Ukraine, when 3.9 million people died due to Stalin's efforts at forced collectivization.

Viktor and Svetlana Zribnyak had lived in Kharkiv, Ukraine, since 1983, but Russia’s invasion forced them to flee to their son’s home in St. Charles.