A nonprofit is appealing for San Diegans to help adopt a Ukrainian refugee family.
“When I looked at them I saw despair. I saw pain … Their stories brought tears to my eyes,” said Viktoriya Banasevych.
For weeks, the Tierrasanta resident and native Ukrainian were in San Ysidro with her husband and a group of volunteers from the nonprofit Nova Ukraine, assisting the refugees after they crossed the border.
She says before the new federal visa system for Ukrainians moved online and halted crossings at the border, more than 15,000 Ukrainians crossed into San Diego, and about a thousand remain in the area. Some are without connections in the US.
Congress Raises the Cost of Putin’s War in Ukraine
WASHINGTON – Nova Ukraine applauds Congress's bipartisan passage of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act 2026, sweeping sanctions legislation that ratchets up pressure on Moscow to end its illegal war. Nova Ukraine CEO Ambassador Erin E. McKee said: "We're grateful that Congress has finally passed real sanctions with teeth against Putin and the Russian officials waging this war, and we urge the President to sign this legislation into law without delay. Sanctions bite when they cause real economic consequences. These target the Russian defense sector and the foreign suppliers propping it up, and they go after Putin's so-called shadow fleet of tankers that has quietly financed this invasion for years.