For Oleg “Ollie” Sakhno and his spouse, Olga, Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is private and virtually an excessive amount of to bear.
Ollie was raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Olga in Leningrad, Russia — and whereas their homelands are on reverse sides, they're united in opposition to Putin’s brazen assault.
“This may be like the US invading Canada. We're closest by blood, tradition and financial ties. We glance the identical. We eat the identical meals,” Olga stated of Russians and Ukrainians.
The couple, who owns the Keuka Kafe wine bar in Forest Hills, Queens, have put Ukrainian beer and wine on the menu, which they're promoting to boost cash to assist the Ukrainian folks.
“Each penny from the gross sales of the Ukrainian drinks will go to charitable teams serving to the Ukrainian folks,” Ollie stated.
Whereas Sakhno stated that Putin’s meddling in Ukrainian affairs was a given, he was shocked by the unprovoked assault on his native nation.
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“Once I first heard of the invasion, I had tears in my eyes. To me, it was a whole shock. A full-scale invasion of a rustic in a world with the web and the place occasions might be seen in real-time?!,” Ollie stated.
However Ollie stated Putin might have underestimated the resilience of the Ukrainian folks.
“There can be stiff resistance. Ukrainians are recognized for it,” he stated, reminding folks of their heroic combating throughout World Battle II.
“Russian troopers is not going to have a secure place to sleep at evening in Ukraine — they usually know that. Ukrainians have a variety of delight.”
He stated Putin is loopy like a fox. He complained that the sanctions introduced by President Biden are inadequate to cease the madman, who made a calculation that the inflation-battered West wouldn't problem him.
His family members in Kyiv are on edge.
“I talked to my cousin in Kyiv. Each time a bomb goes off, his household goes into the basement. It’s very scary. You see the pictures of the primary streets the place I grew up and they're empty,” the bar proprietor stated.
Ollie, 53, fled Ukraine when he was 21 — earlier than the Soviet Union collapsed and residents tasted freedom.
Olga, 49, left Leningrad in Russia when she was 16 and Communism nonetheless dominated the day.
Ollie and Olga have been among the many 2 million Jews who emigrated from the previous Soviet Union within the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties — searching for a greater life and freedom within the U.S. and elsewhere.
Because it occurs, they each in the end landed in Queens, fell in love, married and began their very own wine bar close to the place they stay.
Olga, who can be a instructor at Data Know-how HS in Lengthy Island Metropolis, stated
Russian Individuals are “shock and dismayed ” by Putin’s invasion.
Each expressed concern concerning the Russian army seizing management of the Chernobyl nuclear energy plant, which leaked a large quantity of radiation in 1986 following an explosion. Ollie and his household needed to evacuate and relocate following the environmental catastrophe.
Battle shouldn't be an abstraction to the Sakhno couple, who've an 18-year-old daughter, Bekka. Their dad and mom and grandparents have been displaced throughout World Battle II as Jews sought secure havens from the Nazis.
Ollie stated Ukraine is a a lot better place now than when he lived there when it was a Soviet republic.
“I left earlier than the collapse of communism,” he stated.
He stated Jews below Soviet rule have been handled as second-class residents, with non secular discrimination barring them from coveted jobs.
“It was a given as a Jew rising up you'll be handled in a different way,” he stated.
However Ollie recalled visiting his homeland for the primary time in 2008 and marveled at seeing a rustic reworked for the higher, post-Soviet Union.
“Kyiv was vibrant. There have been a variety of new towers and eating places,” he stated.
“Folks felt liberated. The Ukrainian flag was hanging in all places. There have been extra folks talking Ukrainian than once I was rising up.”
He stated Ukraine has been on a “superb path” below President Volodymyr Zelensky, who he famous is Jewish.
“Zelensky put in a variety of good reforms. They have been transferring towards different European international locations as an equal,” he stated.
Putin should not be permitted to destroy that progress, he stated.
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