'All that I need': Ukrainian refugee family reunited in Daytona Beach

ORMOND BEACH — For Ukrainian refugee Ostap Losyk, the contrast between tragedies unfolding in his war-torn homeland and a new start in the United States is evident from less than an arm’s length away.

In one arm, Losyk, 38, holds his tow-headed young son, Zachar, savoring a reunion and the prospect for a hopeful future that he was uncertain would ever happen.

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With the other arm, Losyk, 38, searches his cellphone for the pictures that document the destruction and atrocities of war that he witnessed over the past seven months as a volunteer defending against invading Russian forces in his hometown of Ternipol, in western Ukraine.

As his 2½-year-old son clutches a toy and a pair of chocolate chip cookies, Losyk describes the photographs in shaky English, but in a steady voice.

There’s a group of children gawking at a destroyed Russian tank. There’s a picture of a “Ukrainian Smoothie” — local slang for the explosive Molotov cocktails that he and other volunteers assembled on a regular basis out of bottles, gasoline and plastic.

In another image, a dead body is being lowered into a trench.

There are pictures of Losyk at the wheel of a forklift in the warehouse where he helped deliver food and medicine to his Ukrainian neighbors, many of them elderly.

“I left my work and I helped the Army,” said Losyk, who had owned a small business that designed paver stones before the war. “I delivered food; I cooked meals for older people.”

With a swipe of his finger, Losyk then displays a photo of his wife, Maria, crammed into a cluttered basement to hide from Russian bombs only two days after the war began in February.

Finding support in Volusia County

Maria Losyk experienced the early days of the war, including 12 harrowing days hiding from an attack in that cold, wet basement. Earlier this year, however, she and young Zachar were able to flee to the United States, where they have been living with an aunt, Maria Zachar Galina, in Daytona Beach.

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Here, the mother and son found support from array of sources, including the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties, which has provided food through the organization’s Jerry Doliner Food Bank since their arrival in mid-March.

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In Volusia County, the Losyks also have received help from other social service organizations, including the Salvation Army, as well as residents in Galina’s Daytona Beach neighborhood.

To support broader relief efforts, the Jewish Federation also has donated $38,000 to the World Jewish Congress directly earmarked for humanitarian relief along Ukraine’s border with Poland, said Marvin Miller, Federation president.

The contributions represent a grassroots outpouring of support from the community, he said.

“We’ve had over 200 checks come in that made up the $38,000,” said Miller, adding that the resilience of the Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion provides renewed motivation to offer support.

“It’s so critical for us to be funding the Ukraine now more than ever,” he said. “It’s unbelievable how they have pushed back. These people are defending their country. We need to rally behind them.”

A turning point in the war?

Miller’s appeal comes amid a turning point in the war, according to media reports.

The Ukrainian military has retaken nearly all of the Kharkiv region that Russian forces had occupied since the opening of the war, resulting in an accelerated pullback that appears to have surprised Russian commanders, according to military observers.

Recent gains have fueled a new sense of optimism that Ukrainian forces could recapture more territory and force the Russians to retreat from land that has been held since the war began in February.

At the same time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

At least 12 million people have fled their homes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the United Nations. More than 5 million have left for neighboring countries, while 7 million are still thought to be displaced inside Ukraine itself.

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The United States has welcomed more than 100,000 Ukrainians and other displaced people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine since the war began, fulfilling a pledge by President Biden in March.

Embracing a new life

For Ostap Losyk, the journey to America started with an arduous 18-hour bus ride from his hometown to Warsaw, Poland, then continued by plane from Poland to Istanbul, Turkey, to Washington, D.C., to Orlando, a trek that took nearly 24 hours.

Now, the Losyks are embracing their new life in Daytona Beach.

Maria Losyk, 35, missed the family’s weekly visit to the Food Bank because she was at work in a newly landed job at an area department store, an accomplishment that fulfilled one of her summer goals. With the help of her aunt, she also is working on improving her English and learning to drive a car.

Ostap is looking for work in the paving business, with at least one potential connection already offered.

And, finally, the family is together again.

“I have all that I need,” Ostap said. “This is my heaven, with my wife and my son.”

How to help

For those interested in contributing to the relief funds for Ukrainian refugees through the World Jewish Congress, checks can be mailed to the Jewish Federation of Volusia & Flagler Counties, 470 Andalusia Ave., Ormond Beach. Put the designation "Ukraine" on the memo line.

For more information, call the Federation at 386-672-0294.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: As war goes on, Ukrainian family reunites in Daytona Beach