SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A student from Ukraine has been reunited with his mother in Sacramento after fleeing the war in Ukraine.
"(At) 5 a.m., I just woke up because I heard booms, really big booms," said Tolik, the 17-year-old student who escaped the war in Ukraine.
Life was ordinary for him before the war began. He attended a university and aspired to become an actor. But over 6,000 miles away, his mother who lives in Sacramento worried about his safety as the Russian invasion intensified.
Tolik knew he had to find a way out.
"I agreed to my father that I will come to my mother," he said. "It was very scary when we moved from Kyiv and stayed in traffic for 13 hours and you don't know what will happen next."
Leaving life as he knew it behind, his long journey of escape took him across Ukraine before safely making it to Bucharest, Romania and eventually Istanbul, Turkey.
From there, he was able to board a plane to San Francisco.
"I travel alone without friends, without parents," he said. "It's very hard because I have university friends - country where I grew up - but now all of that has changed."
Although Tolik is breathing a sigh of relief knowing he's safe on American soil, he can't stop thinking about his father and friends who are still in Ukraine. However, he still holds on to hope that there will be peace and resolution. For now, he plans to stay with his mom in Sacramento.
"I hope Ukraine will win," he said. "It should be."
