Kseniia Hnatovska helps her fellow Ukrainian refugees in Salem during an uncertain time

Kseniia Hnatovska fled war with her family in Ukraine and now advocates for other Ukrainian refugees in Salem. 

She arrived in Salem in 2022 after living in Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city near the border with Russia. She and her husband Serhii have a daughter who was one and a half years old when the family fled the war zone.

She told her story at a Salem City Club event on Friday, Feb. 28, with a colleague from Salem for Refugees at the Willamette Heritage Center. Knatovska now works for the nonprofit as a navigator, helping other Ukrainian families resettle.

She vividly remembers how the family’s routine of going to the swimming pool every Thursday was interrupted by the Russian attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022.

“At 5 a.m. my husband woke me up because of the war. I said, ‘You are kidding me’ but then I realized it was true,” Hnatovska said.

Her speech coincided with  President Donald Trump’s clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House while debating foreign aid to Ukraine, raising tensions between the two countries.

It also came at a time the status of refugee admissions to the U.S. is uncertain. Trump suspended all entry to refugees by executive order on Jan. 20, ordering a review of the program and effectively canceling travel plans for families who had been scheduled to come to Salem.

Schools or the media don’t prepare anyone to survive a war. People have to fend for themselves, she said. 

When the war began in Ukraine, Hnatovska and their family went to a grocery store to buy enough food to keep in case they had to take shelter. But it was too late and “people had bought everything they could,” she said. 

Hnatovska’s friend, who lived near one of the first locations bombed during the invasion, told her that the conflict was turning deadly quickly.

“The night before everything was bright and good, and the next you could see neighbors lying on the floor dead,” Hnatovska said. 

Hnatovska and her family spent about a week in a cellar, which she described as significantly smaller than most cellars in the United States. Filled with uncertainty about how long they would spend there, they gathered as many supplies as they could, including a kettle and a space heater. 

“It was really stressful for all the family. We had a child and didn’t want her to struggle,” Hnatovska said. “What if I die? What if my husband dies?”

Many Ukrainians had to wait for days to catch a train to leave the country. Families left their pets and most of their belongings to make space for others fleeing. 

Hnatovska then showed a photo of a toddler with her name and contact information written on her back with a pen, so emergency services could identify her body in case of death. It had become a normal practice during the war. 

“This baby was the same age as my daughter, the same hair color, the same diapers brand as my daughter,” Hnatovska said. Seeing the photo convinced the family that they had to flee. 

They were lucky to own a car, which they used to drive to Poland, where they met with relatives.

It takes a very long time for refugees to arrive in the United States. They have to register with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, go through a screening process that may take up to two years, and may spend time in refugee camps with limited resources, said Tania Wilson Moran, a volunteer coordinator at Salem for Refugees, during the event. 

They do not choose what country or city will receive them. “They have no say, it’s a lottery system, they just know they’re going into safety,” Wilson Moran said. 

The refugee program in the United States started in the 1940s to serve people fleeing from World War II, and has resettled over three million since 1975. 

Trump’s halt is “unprecedented,” according to Wilson Moran. 

“Serving refugees is very much in the history of Salem,” she said. The Salem community welcomed many in the 1970s, especially from Vietnam and Cambodia, according to the Salem for Refugees website.

After a long period of resettling most refugees in the Portland area, Salem for Refugees was created in 2016 to increase the capacity and offer more services to refugees in Oregon. In 2024, it resettled more refugees than any other organization in the state, Wilson Moran said.

Oregon is home to at least 4,500 Ukrainian refugees, according to the Department of Human Services, over 400 of whom have been served by Salem for Refugees. 

With the refugee halt in place, the organization is focusing on providing the most help possible to those who are already in the country, she said. 

Wilson Moran hopes that the country will accept new refugees soon. However, the future of the refugee program is uncertain. 

“We’re in a tough spot. The program runs directly from the president’s cabinet,” she said. 

The organization has lost a significant part of its funding since the program was halted and it might have to cut some of its staff if the program does not resume soon, Wilson Moran said. 

Salem for Refugees was in the process of resettling five families who had to cancel their flights to the United States as a consequence of the halt, she said. 

They also raised approximately $100,000 from members of the Salem community to cover some of the costs associated with helping those who had just landed in Oregon. 

Arrival in Salem

Hnatovska and her family had a distant relative in Salem who could sponsor them after spending time in Lviv, Poland. However, it was still a scary trip to make with a young daughter, Hnatovska said.

Culture in the United States is more tight-knit and collaborative than in other countries, Hnatovska said. 

Asking for help “was so uncomfortable. In other countries, if you need something or have any problem, it’s your problem,” she said. In Salem, neighbors were happy to lend her family a hand.

Refugees often face financial issues when they arrive in a new country. The cost of living in the United States is so expensive that years of savings in Ukraine would only last several months, Hnatovska said. 

Along with finances comes employment. Many refugees have years of experience in their fields and even hold master’s degrees and doctorates, but when they move to another country they are forced to take blue-collar jobs, she said. Her husband was a successful video editor in Ukraine and is now an Amazon delivery driver in Salem.

They also face many language barriers. Hnatovska suddenly changed to Ukrainian while addressing the crowd. “What do you think I said? Something you can’t understand. It’s like that for many people who come,” Hnatovska said. 

Other barriers refugees face include stress, culture shock and no guarantee that they will be issued a green card, she said. 

Hnatovska now helps other Ukrainians in Salem find community, get familiar with the country and use the resources available to them.

Three years after her arrival, she is starting to feel at home in Salem and has held events and gatherings with other Ukrainians.

“It’s really nice to feel that you’re not a refugee anymore. You are a member of a community, you can say ‘hi’ to them. And Oregon rain doesn’t bother you anymore,” Hnatovska said. 

Contact reporter Alan Cohen: [email protected].

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