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Ukrainian Americans in Fort Collins fear for family in Kyiv

Nadiya Mitelman grew up in Odessa, Ukraine. Her mom moved to Kyiv when she immigrated to the United States.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — There are some things Nadiya Mitelman's daughters will never know growing up in Fort Collins. Things like the fear Mitelman always had growing up in Odessa, Ukraine.

"When the Berlin Wall came down, my mom literally – I mean things were happening on TV, and she’s like look, 'If I have to give you away, you go with whoever I give you to and you never look back,'" said Mitelman. "And I’ve never forgotten that, and I was 4." 

She was the same age her oldest daughter is now. 

Her daughter might not know the fear, but she does know Russian. 

It allows her to talk to her grandmother, Mitelman's mom, in Kyiv. The conversation on Friday was cut short. 

“And she’s like, 'Hey I need to go; I’m right by the window, and they’re starting to shoot now,'" said Mitelman, remembering her mom's conversation. "So I don’t know what that means. She said she’s heard gun shots and bombs going off."

Mitelman doesn't know what will happen to her family, or when she can talk to them again. 

“It’s just like a history on repeat pretty much," she said. "Just with a lot bigger guns and a lot scarier bombs."

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